Kansas City
IUPUI
Jaguars Rally From 11 Down To Edge 'Roos, 65-64
1/23/2010 10:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 65-64 decision to IUPUI on Saturday night at Municipal Auditorium. The 'Roos led by 11 points midway through the second half, but the Jaguars held UMKC to just 10 points over the final 12:45 to escape Kansas City with the one point victory.
Three 'Roo players finished in double figures with Jay Couisnard leading the way with 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting. The forward also had a team-high eight boards. Sophomore Trey McKinney-Jones netted 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting, while junior Spencer Johnson had 12 points and seven rebounds.
UMKC got off to a quick start, as it built a 17-10 lead over the first seven and a half minutes behind five points by Couisnard. The 'Roos then proceeded to push their lead to double digits (22-12) on a McKinney-Jones long ball at the 10:54 mark.
IUPUI quickly answered with an 8-2 run to climb to within four (24-20), and it got to within a field goal (33-31) on a Robert Glenn lay-up with 54 seconds to go in the half. The 'Roos then regained the momentum, as Couisnard made a lay-up to push the lead back to four and Bakari Lewis made a triple with six seconds left on the clock to send his squad into the break with a 38-31 advantage.
Coming out of the half, the Jaguars rode Glenn and Alex Young in a 9-1 run to cut the margin to two (42-40) at the 16:18 mark. Couisnard and Johnson, however, answered with back-to-back threes to ignite a 12-3 UMKC run that saw the squad build a game-high 11 point (54-43) lead.
The Jaguars then countered with a 12-2 run of their own to get back to within a single point (56-55) with 9:25 to play. UMKC, however, pushed its lead back to four behind a pair of Couisnard field goals, but IUPUI kept pushing, as it took the 61-60 lead - its first since the 17:59 mark of the first half.
After trading the lead on the next two possessions, Couisnard put the 'Roos back on top with a lay-up to make the score 64-63, but that would be UMKC's last field goal of the game.
IUPUI didn't fare much better offensively, as it didn't make a field goal over the final 5:03, but the Jags tied and took the lead at the free throw line, a place where they held a distinct advantage in the game. Glenn made 1-of-2 to even the game at 64 at the 1:12 mark before Alex Young too connected on 1-of-2 with 38 seconds left to give IUPUI the one point advantage.
The Kangaroos had a chance to take the lead, as they had possession of the ball with 38 seconds left. Lewis missed a long ball from the top of the key with 14 seconds on the clock. UMKC got a second chance after securing the offensive board, but freshman Kirk Korver missed his three-point attempt with three second remaining as IUPUI secured the win to improve to 8-1 in league play.
UMKC finished the game with a .421 (24-57) field goal percentage and a .360 (9-25) mark from long range. The Jags, meanwhile, shot .458 (22-48) from the floor, but just .250 from three-point range. The squads finished dead even on the glass, as both teams pulled down 33 rebounds, but IUPUI made 17-of-29 free throw attempts compared to just 7-of-9 for the 'Roos.
A pair of IUPUI players finished in double figures with Glenn leading the way with 18 on 7-of-10 points to go along with eight boards. Young netted 17 points and three other IUPUI players added eight points apiece.
UMKC (9-10, 3-5) will return to action on Tuesday night when it hosts North Dakota State at the Swinney Recreation Center beginning at 7:05 p.m. The first 200 students at the game will receive free food courtesy of Chick-fil-a.
