Kansas City
North Dakota State
Hot Second Half Shooting Lifts NDSU Past UMKC, 73-69
1/26/2010 10:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball team dropped a 73-69 decision to North Dakota State on Tuesday night at the Swinney Recreation Center. The Bison shot 64 percent from the floor and 77.8 percent from long range in the second half to rally from a 12-point deficit to secure the four point victory.
Three 'Roo players finished in double figures in the contest with sophomore Trey McKinney-Jones pacing the squad with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Junior Jay Couisnard finished with 15, while freshman Kirk Korver added 11 off the bench.
NDSU opened the game strong by jumping out to a 9-5 and 12-8 lead over the first seven minutes before the 'Roos fought back to even the game at 14 on a Spencer Johnson trey at the 10:03 mark. The Bison then proceeded to build their advantage back to four at 20-16 with 6:39 left in the half.
UMKC then took control, as it went on a 16-0 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 32-20 lead with 2:13 remaining on the clock. The Kangaroos had a pair of crowd-pleasing dunks during the run, which included a one-handed slam by McKinney-Jones that stretched the lead to double digits.
The 'Roos held the Bison without a field goal over the final eight minutes of the first half, as the squad took the 12-point (36-24) advantage into the break.
Coming out of the locker room, UMKC stretched NDSU's field goal drought to 10 minutes before Eric Carlson had a lay-up to end the run and pull his squad to within 10 at 36-26. The 'Roos quickly pushed their lead back to 12 and that was the margin at the 14:44 mark.
NDSU then caught fire, as it scored eight straight points in a little over a minute, which included a three-pointer by Josh Vaughan. Vaughan's long ball opened a stretch where the Bison made six consecutive three-pointers, the final - a Michael Tveidt trey - gave NDSU the 55-52 lead with 9:25 to play.
After UMKC pulled to within one (55-54) courtesy of a LaTreze Mushatt fast break lay-up, NDSU scored seven of the next nine points to push their advantage to six (62-56) with four minutes left on the clock.
Following the final media timeout, UMKC cut the margin to four on a McKinney-Jones jumper. The squad then forced a Bison turnover before Johnson nailed a jumper from the left elbow to get his squad to within a field goal (62-60) with 2:48 to play.
UMKC stayed within striking distance as the margin was still two (66-64) with 1:15 left, and the 'Roos played solid defense, forcing NDSU into a pair of 30-second timeouts, with the final coming with just five seconds left on the shot clock. Vaughan, however, took the inbounds pass and fired a long three-pointer from the top of the key that was a dagger in UMKC's hopes.
The Bison then stretched their lead to as many as seven (71-64) with 24 seconds to play before holding on for the 73-69 victory.
UMKC shot .456 (26-57) from the floor and .368 (7-19) from long range, while NDSU finished with a .480 (24-50) field goal percentage and a .563 (9-16) mark from three-point land. The 'Roos won the battle on the boards, 31-28, but committed 18 turnovers.
Three Bison players landed in double digits with Vaughan leading the way with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting (4-of-6 3PT) to go along with a game-high eight boards. Tveidt had 18 and Carlson added 13.
UMKC (9-11, 3-6) will next hit the road for three straight games beginning with a Saturday night match-up at Southern Utah.
