Cedar
City, Utah
-- The UMKC men's basketball team dropped an 81-69 road contest to Southern Utah on Saturday night at Centrum Arena. The Kangaroos led 22-20 late in the first
half, but the Thunderbirds used a 26-4 run over a seven-minute stretch to close
out the opening half and to start the second half to break the game open before
going on to the 12-point victory.
UMKC opened the game on a good note, as it built a 10-6 lead
over the first four minutes. The T-Birds
then reeled off seven straight to grab a 13-10 lead, but the ?Roos kept pace
thanks to back-to-back buckets by Daniel Brady to even the score at 16 with
nine minutes left in the half.
Trailing by four at 20-16, the Kangaroos scored six straight
points to take a 22-20 lead with 4:30 remaining. Southern Utah
then closed out the half with a 10-0 run to take a 30-22 lead into the
break. Reserve guard Mike Josserand
scored six straight for the T-Birds during one stretch during the spurt.
After trading baskets coming out of the half, Southern Utah broke the game open with a 14-2 run to
stretch its lead to 20 at 46-26 with 15:03 remaining. The T-Birds' Tyler Quinney and Davis Baker
combined to score 10 points during the spurt.
After SUU pushed its lead to 23 points (52-29) with 13 minutes
to play, the Kangaroos began battling back courtesy of a full-court press. The squad used the press to score 11-of-13
points over a three-minute stretch to close the gap to 12 points (54-42). Freshman Latreze Mushatt scored six points to
key the Kangaroo run.
SUU then stretched its lead back to 18 points (64-46) at the
eight minute mark, as the squad scored eight straight points from the charity
stripe. UMKC kept fighting as it closed
the gap to 10 points in the closing minute of play before falling by the
12-point margin.
UMKC finished with a .411 (23-56) field goal percentage and
a .091 (1-11) mark from long range. SUU,
meanwhile, shot .523 (23-44) from the floor and .444 (4-9) from three-point
land. The T-Birds aldso made 31-of-34
free throw attempts, and they also won the battle on the boards, 35-25.
A pair of UMKC players finished the game in double digits
with Bakari Lewis leading the way with 23 points on a 7-of-13 night from the
field. The 23 points matches a career-high. Mushatt, meanwhile, scored a career-best 16
points on 7-of-15 shooting.
John Clifford led a group of six SUU players to finish in
double digits. The center tallied a
double-double with 18 points and 15 boards, while Baker added 17 for the squad.
UMKC (6-19, 2-10) will continue its three-game road trip
with a trip to the Dakotas next weekend beginning with a Thursday night
match-up at league-leading North
Dakota State.
