Kansas City
Centenary
Lewis' Jumper With 3.3 Seconds Remaining Rallies 'Roos Past Gents, 84-83
12/5/2009 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Shreveport, La. -- The UMKC men's basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit over the final 3:26 to claim an 84-83 road victory at Centenary on Saturday night at the Gold Dome. Junior Bakari Lewis scored seven points in the final 52 seconds, which included hitting the game winning jumper with 3.3 seconds remaining to propel the 'Roos to the one-point Summit League victory.
Lewis led a group of four UMKC players in double digits, as he made 4-of-8 shot attempts en route to 18 points. Sophomore LaTreze Mushatt recorded his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 boards, sophomore Trey McKinney-Jones finished with a career-best 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and junior Spencer Johnson added 14 for the squad.
The early going of the contest was an even affair as neither team could gain more than a four-point advantage. A three-point play by Roman Tubner at the 9:09 mark helped Centenary build a 22-18, but UMKC's Kirk Korver came in and provided a spark off the bench by scoring four straight to even the tally at 22.
The Gents responded with an 8-1 run to make the score 30-23 before sophomore Trey McKinney-Jones scored seven points in a 9-3 Kangaroo run to make the score 33-32 Centenary with 4:07 to play in the first half.
Centenary then connected on back-to-back three pointers, as it used a 10-4 run to close out the half to build a 43-36 advantage. The Gents shot 51.7 percent in the opening half, and made 10-of-11 free throws. McKinney-Jones, meanwhile, kept the 'Roos in the contest, as he finished with 15 points on a perfect 7-of-7 shooting.
UMKC came out of the break energized, as the squad scored the first six points to climb to within a point at 43-42 to force a Gent timeout. The timeout worked as Centenary proceeded to score 12-of-14 points to build an 11-point lead (55-44) with 14:57 remaining.
The 'Roos continued battling as they pulled to within six points (56-50) on a pair of Lewis free throws with 13:02 remaining. After keeping their lead around six to nine points, the Gents, however, stretched their lead to as many as 12 points (77-65) with 4:39 left on the clock.
Following the under four-minute media timeout, Centenary had a comfortable 80-70 lead, but UMKC wouldn't stop fighting. Johnson jump started the comeback with a three-pointer at the 3:08 mark before knocking down a pair of free throws with 2:39 remaining to make the score 80-75.
Sophomore Dustin Dibble then cut the margin to three (80-77) with a lay-up with 2:19 left, but Tubner put CC back up four by making 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. Lewis then took over as he drained a three from the top of the key with 52 seconds left to make the score 81-80.
Following a pair of Perez free throws, Lewis quickly drove to the basket for a lay-up to make the score 83-82 with 30 seconds remaining. UMKC avoided the foul early in the possession, as it went for the trap at mid court, but Tubner found David Perez in the corner uncontested. Perez for some reason drove the ball hard to the basket where Johnson was positioned perfectly to take the charge to give his squad a chance at the win.
Lewis proceeded to bring the ball up the court, used a screen and drained a jumper just inside the three-point line to give UMKC the 84-83 lead with 3.3 seconds left. Centenary then had a desperation heave from just inside half court, but it was off the mark, as UMKC escaped Shreveport with the one-point victory.
The 'Roos shot .475 (28-59) from the floor and 5-of-17 from long range, while Centenary shot .545 (24-44) from the field and .500 (6-12) from three-point land. The Gents also made 29-of-34 free throw attempts, while UMKC shot .767 (23-30) from the charity stripe. UMKC also won the battle on the glass, 31-25.
Four Centenary players finished in double digits in the game with reserve Perez leading the team with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
UMKC (4-3, 1-1) will return to Kansas City on Wednesday night when it hosts Wichita State in its first game of the season at Municipal Auditorium.
