Kansas
City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's
basketball ended its eight-game losing streak with a 61-59 victory over
Centenary on Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium. The Gents erased an 11-point second half deficit,
but the Kangaroos came away with the win courtesy of Fred Ford's lay-up with
six tenths of a second remaining.
UMKC opened the game
strong by making four of its first seven shots to build an 11-4 lead over the
first six minutes of the contest. The squad then stretched its lead to 15-6 at
the 10 minute mark, as it limited Centenary to just 2-of-13 shooting to start
the game.
The action went back
and forth to close out the half, as the Gents cut it to five (19-14) before the
?Roos stretched the margin back to nine (27-18) at the 2:38 mark. UMKC took a 29-23 lead into the break.
Coming out of the
locker room, the Kangaroos used an 11-6 run over the first four minutes to
stretch their advantage to a game-high 11 points. Senior Dane Brumagin, who returned for the
squad after missing the last two games due to injury, capped the run with a
three-pointer to put UMKC up 40-29 with 15:59 remaining.
The Gents then
started heating up from long range, as they connected on three straight three
pointers to cut their deficit to four points (42-38) at the 12:56 mark. UMKC, however, built its lead back to eight
points with 11 minutes remaining following a short jumper by sophomore Bakari
Lewis.
Centenary kept
battling as it climbed to within three points (54-51) with 5:36 remaining, but
the ?Roos then made three-of-four free throws to push the advantage back to six
with 3:55 left. The Gents then managed
to pull to within one (57-56) following a David Perez three-pointer and a Chase
Adams lay-up, but Lewis drained a long jumper with 28 seconds to give UMKC the
59-56 lead with 28 ticks left on the clock.
On the ensuing
possession, Adams drove hard to the basket and found Anthony Gatlin on the
right wing, where the forward connected on a three-pointer to even the tally at
59 with 16 seconds remaining. It was the
game's first tie since the 2-2 mark early in the first half.
Following a UMKC
timeout with eight seconds remaining, Ford drove to the rack and snuck a lay-up
over the rim with six tenths of a second left to give his team the 61-59
win. The lay-up was Ford's only field
goal of the contest.
The Kangaroos shot
.422 (19-45) from the floor and .300 (3-10) from long range, while Centenary
shot .423 (22-52) from the field and .364 (8-22) from the distance. UMKC won the game from the charity stripe,
where it made 20-of-26 attempts to just 7-of-8 for CC. The ?Roos also out rebounded the Gents,
34-26.
Lewis led a group of
three Kangaroo players in double digits, as he finished with 14 points. Freshman Trey McKinney-Jones tallied his
first career double-double with 11 points and 11 boards, while Johnson added 10
for the squad.
The Gents,
meanwhile, had three players finish in double digits with Adams
leading the team with 15 points and seven assists.
UMKC (7-21, 3-12)
will close out its home schedule on Saturday night against Oral Roberts. Brumagin will be honored prior to the opening
tip as a part of the Senior Day festivities.
