Kansas City
North Dakota State
Johnson's 21 Rebounds, Hall's Putback At The Buzzer Move 'Roos To 7-0 At Home
12/28/2010 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball team (8-5, 1-2) recorded its school record seventh straight home win to open up the 2010-11 season with a 75-73 win over North Dakota State (7-5, 1-1) on freshman Trinity Hall's last second put-back as time expired.
Senior Spencer Johnson led the 'Roos with 21 rebounds, the second most in UMKC history, trailing only the 23 by Tony Berg in 1996. Johnson and junior Reggie Chamberlain, meanwhile, topped the 'Roos in scoring as each notched 16, while Chamberlain chipped in a team-high five assists. Seniors Jay Couisnard and Bakari Lewis, as well as Hall, also reach double figures for UMKC, finishing with 15, 10, and 14 points, respectively.
UMKC started off the game with 18 of the first 25 points, including two three-point baskets from Couisnard and one apiece from Johnson and Lewis.
Later in the half, the Bison would close to within seven at 21-14, but an 18-5 run by the 'Roos gave them their biggest lead of the game at 20.
The two squads would then trade the final four baskets of the half and UMKC would take a 20 point lead into the break, matching their largest of the season.
Coming out of halftime, the two squads would play the first four minutes of the half even, with the 'Roos holding onto a 52-32 lead with 15:43 left to play.
An 8-2 run by the Bison though, would cut the UMKC lead to 14 at the 14:04 mark of the second half.
The 'Roos would then increase their lead back to 16 at 58-42, but an 8-1 run by NDSU cut the UMKC lead to single digits for the first time since the 12:22 mark of the first half.
UMKC would push their lead back to 11, but with 6:36 left to play, North Dakota State would begin a 13-4 run that sliced the lead to two with 1:54 left in the contest.
The two teams would then go scoreless on their next two possession, but a three ball from Lewis with 25 seconds left pushed the UMKC lead to five at 72-67.
NDSU would answer the 'Roos with back-to-back layups from Taylor Braun to cut the lead to one with 17 seconds remaining.
One possession later Braun would tie the game up with his third straight layup after Couisnard split a pair of free throws.
The 'Roos would then inbound the ball to Chamberlain with six seconds left. Chamberlain pulled up for a three with two seconds left, missed to the left, but Hall was their to collect the miss and put the ball back in as time expired to give the 'Roos the 75-73 win.
In the contest, UMKC out-rebounded NDSU 42-38, despite playing nobody taller than the 6-5 Johnson. On the defensive side, the 'Roos held the nations No. 1 three-point shooting team to 26.7 percent on 4-of-15 shooting from behind the arc.
The Blue & Gold will be back in action again on Thursday when they welcome in South Dakota State for a 7:05 p.m. tip-off.
