Kansas City
IPFW
'Roos Drop Road Contest At IPFW, 78-69
1/16/2010 9:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Fort Wayne, Ind. -- The UMKC men's basketball team dropped its third straight game, as it fell 78-69 at IPFW on Saturday night at Memorial Coliseum. The Mastodons won their second straight by shooting 51.8 percent from the floor and 45 percent from long range.
Sophomore Trey McKinney-Jones was the only 'Roo player in double digits, finishing with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting. Four UMKC players, meanwhile, netted eight points in the contest.
IPFW started the game strong, as it jumped out to an 8-2 and 22-10 lead over the first 11 plus minutes. UMKC struggled to make shots during the early going, as it connected on just 3-of-14 attempts, allowing the Mastodons to build their advantage.
Freshman Alex Bazzell finally got something going for the 'Roos with a three ball at the 6:52 mark to cut the deficit to nine points at 22-13. UMKC then battled back to within five points twice before the half on threes by Bakari Lewis and Kirk Korver, but IPFW answered each long ball to take a 36-28 lead into the break.
The 'Dons made 14-of-28 attempts to shoot 50 percent in the opening half, while the 'Roos connected on just 8-of-27 shots for a 29.6 percentage.
IPFW started the second half on fire, as it made 4-of-6 shots, including three long balls to push its lead to 49-32 at the 16:40 mark. The 'Dons then went on to build their advantage to as many as 21 (62-41) with 8:40 remaining.
The 'Roos then began chipping away at the deficit, as a three-pointer by Michael Gholston, Jr., cut the margin to 16 (62-46). Following a pair of IPFW free throws, McKinney-Jones then scored five straight points to make the score 64-51 with 5:44 left.
Deilvez Yearby then ended the 'Roos' hopes with a thunderous fast break dunk and a jumper to make the score 69-51 with around four minutes to play. UMKC kept battling, as it scored 13 of the final 21 points to cut the margin to nine, but it was too little too late, as nine points ended up being the final margin.
UMKC finished with a .350 (21-60) field goal percentage and a .333 (6-18) mark from long range, while the 'Dons shot .518 (29-56) and .450 (9-20) from three-point land. The 'Roos, however, won the battle on the boards, 36-34.
The Mastodons had four players finish in double digits with sophomore Jeremy Mixon pacing the team with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Ben Botts finished with 16 points with four long balls, Yearby was one block shy of a triple-double, finishing with 12 points, 10 boards and nine blocks, and Nick Daniels added 10.
UMKC (8-9, 2-4) will return home for three straight games beginning with a Thursday night match-up with Western Illinois. The game will begin at 7:05 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium.
