Kansas City
North Dakota State
Couisnard's Double-Double Leads UMKC Past NDSU, 58-56
2/4/2010 10:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Fargo, N.D. -- The UMKC men's basketball team gutted out a 58-56 road victory at North Dakota State on Thursday night at the Bison Sports Arena. Forward Jay Couisnard recorded his first career double-double finishing with 18 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to help the 'Roos snap their three-game losing streak and win for the first time in school history in Fargo.
Couisnard's 18 points came on a 5-of-13 night from the floor and he also made 8-of-9 free throw attempts. Sophomore LaTreze Mushatt was the only other UMKC player in double digits, finishing with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
UMKC opened the game by getting three-pointers from Johnson and Mushatt, as the squad built a 9-4 lead over the first four minutes. NDSU then answered with a 10-4 run over the next five minutes to grab its first lead of the game at 14-13 with 11:27 left in the half.
The two squads then traded leads before the Bison grabbed a 22-19 advantage at the 8:26 mark on an Eric Carlson jumper. But the UMKC freshmen duo of Kirk Korver and Alex Bazzell scored the next nine 'Roo points to put UMKC on top, 28-25, before taking a 34-29 advantage into the break.
Coming out of the locker rooms, the Bison scored nine of the first 13 points to even the tally at 38 all at the 15:50 mark. UMKC quickly regained the lead courtesy of four straight points from Couisnard and Trey McKinney-Jones at the charity stripe, but NDSU responded with the next six to take a 45-42 lead with 11:39 left.
Korver then answered the 6-0 spurt with a three-point play to even the score at 45 all and the action remained tight for the remainder of the game. The score was tied three times and there were four lead changes over the final 10 minutes of play.
With the score knotted at 49 all, Josh Vaughan made an old-fashioned three-point play to put NDSU up three (52-49) with 6:16 remaining in the contest. Mushatt then scored to pull UMKC to within one with 4:55 to play, but Michael Tveidt made a pair of free throws to put the Bison back up three with 4:35 left.
Mushatt again trimmed the deficit to one with a jumper at the 4:17 mark, but the two squads would then go scoreless for a three-minute stretch. With 1:22 to play, Couisnard poked the ball away from Tveidt and dove on the floor to take possession. He then found a streaking Mushatt, who took the ball in for a fast break lay-up to give the 'Roos the 55-54 lead with 1:18 left.
NDSU missed on the ensuing possession and UMKC went on to stretch its lead to four (58-54) with 14 seconds left with makes at the charity stripe. Carlson, however, converted a lay-up with six seconds remaining to keep the Bison's hopes alive. After being fouled, Couisnard missed the front end of a one-on-one with five seconds to play, but NDSU's shot at the buzzer was off the mark, as UMKC held on for the 58-56 victory.
The 'Roos shot .383 (18-47) from the floor and .364 (4-11) from long range, while NDSU finished with a .400 (22-55) field goal percentage and a .222 (2-9) mark from three-point land. UMKC also made 18-of-23 free throw attempts, while the Bison were 10-of-13. NDSU also won the rebounding battle, 36-33.
Tveidt was the only Bison player in double figures, finishing with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
UMKC (10-12, 4-7) will return to action on Saturday night in Brookings against South Dakota State. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Frost Arena.
