Kansas City
Western Illinois
'Roos Drop Hard Fought 64-59 Decision At Western Illinois
2/20/2010 10:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Macomb, Ill. -- The UMKC men's basketball team closed out the road portion of its schedule with a tight 64-59 loss at Western Illinois on Saturday night at Western Hall. The 'Roos fought back to within three points twice in the final two minutes after trailing by as many as 15 early in the second half.
A pair of UMKC players finished in double figures with LaTreze Mushatt and Jay Couisnard both netting 15 points. Mushatt was 6-of-13 from the floor to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Couisnard, meanwhile, went just 3-of-12 from the field, but was 9-of-10 from the free throw stripe.
WIU opened the game strong by making 5-of-6 shot attempts, but the 'Roos kept pace, as the score was even at 11 all at the 14:16 mark. The Leathernecks then went on an 8-2 run over the next three minute stretch to take a 19-13 lead with 8:42 to go in the half.
Mushatt answered with back-to-back buckets, the second a fast break dunk off a hustle steal and assist from Alex Bazzell, to close the gap to 19-17. Western Illinois, however, closed out the half on a 14-3 run to take a 33-20 advantage into the break. WIU made 14-of-22 attempts for a 63.6 field goal percentage in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Leathernecks pushed their lead to a game-high 15 points (39-24) over the first three and a half minutes of the second half before the 'Roos answered with a 7-0 run to close the gap to eight (39-31) at the 14:16 mark. Western then got the momentum back after Mushatt was called for an intentional foul, which led to a five point possession for WIU making the score 44-31 with 13:14 to play.
UMKC continued battling, as it cut the deficit back to eight points (48-40) on a Trey McKinney-Jones jumper at the 8:06 mark. WIU then pushed its advantage back to 12 (52-40) courtesy of a James Granstra dunk and a Matt Lander jumper.
The 'Roos then made the game interesting, as it used a 13-4 run over a three-minute span to pull the margin to within three at 56-53. UMKC did most of its damage at the charity stripe, as the squad made 9-of-10 free throws during the stretch.
Western Illinois pushed its advantage back to seven (60-53) on free throws by Lander and Ceola Clark. UMKC managed to get to within three a second time at 62-59 on a Bakari Lewis three-pointer, but Clark iced the win with two more free throws to send WIU to the 64-59 victory.
UMKC finished with a .328 (19-58) field goal percentage and a .222 (4-18) mark from long range, while Western Illinois shot .525 (21-40) from the floor and .455 (5-11) from three-point land. The Leathernecks also went 17-of-21 from the free throw stripe, which included making all eight attempts in the final minute. UMKC won the battle on the glass, 35-25.
Clark led a pair of WIU players in double figures with a game-high 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Quenton Kirby added 12 for the squad in the win.
Despite the loss, the 'Roos clinched a berth into The Summit League Tournament courtesy of Southern Utah's 80-61 road loss at IUPUI.
UMKC (11-16, 5-11) will return to Kansas City for the final two games of the regular season beginning with a Thursday night match-up against Centenary.
