Kansas City
Oakland
League-Leading Grizzlies Drop 'Roos, 83-71
2/13/2010 10:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball team dropped an 83-71 decision against league-leading Oakland on Saturday night at Municipal Auditorium. The 'Roos had three players finish in double figures in the loss with Trey McKinney-Jones and LaTreze Mushatt going for career-highs with 22 and 21 points, respectively.
McKinney-Jones broke out of his three-game slump by making 8-of-16 shot attempts to pace the squad. Mushatt, meanwhile, netted 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting to go along with a team-high eight rebounds. Junior Jay Couisnard added 12 in 37 minutes.
Oakland jumped out to a 14-6 lead over the first six minutes of the contest before the 'Roos got a three-point play by McKinney-Jones to cut the margin five (14-9). The Grizzlies, however, went on to push their lead to a half-high 15 points (30-15) courtesy of a 16-6 run over a five-minute span.
The 'Roos were then able to gain some momentum before heading into the locker room. Down 15 with 1:48 left in the half, the squad scored the final six points, which included four straight by Fred Chatmon, to trim the deficit to single digits at 41-32.
Coming out of the break, Oakland stretched its lead to 15 points courtesy of a Larry Wright three-pointer at the 16:04 mark. The Golden Grizzlies then pushed their advantage to 20 with 8:45 to play before stretching it to a game-high 25 points with 6:03 left.
The 'Roos were then able to make the score respectable down the stretch, as they scored 11-of-the-final-14 points to get to the final 12-point margin. Mushatt scored nine of his career-best 21 points during the stretch.
UMKC finished with a .429 (27-63) field goal percentage and a .333 (5-15) mark from three-point land, while Oakland finished with a .630 (29-46) shooting clip - a high for a 'Roo opponent this season - and a .529 (9-17) mark from long range. OU also won the battle on the boards, 34-27.
Senior Johnathon Jones led a trio of Oakland players in double digits with 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting to go along with five assists. Wright finished with 20 points and Keith Benson tallied his 14th double-double with 16 points and 13 boards.
UMKC (11-14, 5-9) will now hit the road for its final trip of the regular season beginning with a Thursday night tilt at IUPUI in The Jungle.
