Kansas City
South Dakota State
'Roos Fall 78-57 To SDSU In Brookings
2/6/2010 10:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Brookings, S.D. -- The UMKC men's basketball team dropped a 78-57 road decision on Saturday night at Frost Arena. Junior Jay Couisnard was the only 'Roo player in double digits, as he finished with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Aside from Couisnard, three UMKC players finished with at least eight points in the contest. Sophomore LaTreze Mushatt led the group with nine points and a game-high seven boards, although he made just 4-of-12 shots from the floor.
South Dakota State jumped on the 'Roos early, as it knocked down 5-of-9 shots, three of which were three-pointers, to build an 18-4 lead over the first eight minutes. The Jacks then proceeded to stretch their advantage to 17 points (27-10) at the 8:58 mark.
UMKC kept battling, as a Kirk Korver three pointer cut the margin to 13 points with 4:31 to play in the half. SDSU pushed their lead back to 16 points twice in the closing minutes, but the 'Roos managed to gain some momentum heading into the locker room. A Couisnard jumper and a Korver long ball helped UMKC score the final five points as it cut the deficit to 12 (42-20).
The Jacks shot 52.2 percent (12-23) from the floor and .500 (6-12) from long range. Couisnard kept the 'Roos in the game, as he netted 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting over the first 20 minutes.
Coming out of the break, Couisnard knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the margin to 10 (42-32), but the Jacks scored 12-of-the-next-14 points to stretch their lead to 20 (54-34) with 11:40 to play. UMKC kept fighting, as a Michael Gholston long ball at the 8:37 mark cut the Jacks lead to 15 (58-43). The field goal was the team's first bucket of the second half.
The 'Roos wouldn't quit, as a Bakari Lewis triple got UMKC to within 11 (60-49) with 6:23 to play. Following a SDSU field goal, Lewis made a free throw before Gholston trimmed the deficit to single digits at 62-53 with a long ball at the 4:42 mark.
That would be as close as UMKC would come, however, as the Jacks stretched their lead to a game-high 21 points, which was also the final margin of victory.
UMKC shot .358 (19-53) from the floor and .313 (5-16) from long range, while SDSU finished with a .500 (24-48) field goal percentage and .450 (9-20) mark from three point range. The Jacks also made 21-of-28 free throw attempts and they had 17 assists on their 24 field goals. The 'Roos did win the battle on the boards, 36-28.
Junior Clint Sargent led a group of four SDSU players in double digits with 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Griffan Callahan had 14, Garrett Callahan finished with 12 points and Anthony Cordova added 11.
UMKC (10-13, 4-8) will return to Municipal Auditorium on Thursday when it hosts IPFW beginning at 7:05 p.m.
