Kansas City
Centenary
Four 'Roos Reach Double Figures In 83-69 Win Over Centenary
2/25/2010 11:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball team ended its three-game losing streak and completed the season sweep with its 83-69 victory over Centenary on Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium. The 'Roos had four players finish in double figures in the contest with Jay Couisnard leading the way with 22 points.
Couisnard's point total came via a 5-of-12 night from the floor and an 11-of-12 showing from the charity stripe. Sophomore Trey McKinney-Jones finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, Spencer Johnson had 16 points and seven boards and LaTreze Mushatt tallied his second career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Centenary jumped on UMKC early, as it built a 7-2 lead over the first two and a half minutes before the 'Roos reeled off 11 unanswered and 14-of-16 points to build a 16-9 advantage. The Gents then fought back to tie the game at 23 before Matt Marseille's jumper gave CC the 25-23 lead with 7:54 to play in the half.
The 'Roos then went off on an 18-5 run to turn the two-point deficit into a 41-29 lead at the 2:04 mark. Couisnard opened the run with a fast break dunk and he capped it off with a three-point play to give UMKC the 12-point lead. Centenary, however scored 7-of-the-final-8 points to close out the half, making the score 42-36 at the break.
After the Gents cut the deficit to four on a David Perez lay-up coming out of the half, the 'Roos went on a 12-4 run to build a 54-42 lead. The Gents wouldn't fold, however, as they answered with a 9-2 run of their own to cut the deficit to five (56-51).
Mushatt followed with back-to-back field goals and McKinney-Jones nailed a three-pointer to push the margin back to 11 at 63-52. After Perez long ball cut the deficit to single digits (63-55), McKinney-Jones' jumper put the 'Roos back up double digits (65-55) with 8:27 to play and the outcome was never in doubt for the remainder of the contest.
UMKC pushed its lead to a game-high 14 points (80-66) with 39 seconds remaining before winning by the same margin.
The 'Roos finished with a .446 (25-56) field goal percentage and a .368 (7-19) mark from long range, while Centenary shot .404 (23-57) from the field and .217 (5-23) from three-point land. UMKC also went 26-of-31 from the free throw stripe and out rebounded CC, 44-25.
Five Gent players finished in double figures with Daman Starring leading the way with 14 points.
UMKC (12-16, 6-11) will close out the regular season on Saturday night against Oral Roberts beginning at 7:05 p.m.
