Kansas City
Wichita State
Shockers Spoil UMKC's Municipal Home Opener
12/9/2009 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball team lost its 2009-10 debut at Municipal Auditorium on Wednesday night, falling 73-52 to visiting Wichita State. Three Kangaroo players scored in double digits in the defeat with junior Jay Couisnard pacing the squad with 13 points.
Couisnard, whose brother P.J. played for the Shockers from 2004-08, connected on 5-of-9 shot attempts en route to his final point total. Sophomore LaTreze Mushatt finished with 11 points, while junior Bakari Lewis added 10 to go along with a career-high seven boards.
UMKC got off to a solid start, as it jumped out to a 6-4 lead behind a Couisnard long ball in the early going, but WSU responded by scoring 12 unanswered points to build a double digit (16-6) advantage. The Shockers' lead then swelled to 15 points (33-18) with 1:04 to play in the half before the 'Roos cut the deficit to 12 (34-22) heading into the locker room.
Coming out of the break, Wichita State extended its advantage to 22 points (49-27) seven minutes into the second half, before the 'Roos used an 8-1 run to cut the margin to 15 (51-36) with 8:40 to play. Sophomore Trey McKinney-Jones opened the spurt with a fast break lay-up, Mushatt then scored four straight and Alex Bazzell made a bizarre lay-up that ricocheted off a WSU defender into the basket with 8:40 to play.
The Shockers, however, pushed their lead back to 19 with four makes from the charity stripe before pushing the lead back to 21 (59-38) with 5:37 remaining. The 'Roos kept battling as they got to within 15 a second time (59-44), but WSU was too much as it improved to 8-1 with the 73-52 victory.
UMKC shot a season-low .347 (17-49) from the floor and just .222 (2-9) from long range, while Wichita State finished with a .463 (25-54) field goal percentage and a .231 mark from three-point land. The Shockers also out rebounded the 'Roos 38-32 and forced UMKC into committing 17 turnovers.
Four Shocker players reached double digits in the win. Reserve guard David Kyles paced the squad with a game-high 16 points, while J.T. Durley scored 12 points to go along with nine boards.
UMKC (4-4) will return to action on Saturday night at Houston Baptist beginning at 7:35 p.m.
