Kansas City
Bradley
'Roos Hang Tough, But Fall at Bradley 68-58
11/13/2011 8:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - The Kangaroos men's basketball squad made major improvements and played right with the Bradley Braves on the road Sunday evening, but converted free throws by the home squad in the final minute pushed it to a 68-58 final margin.
The Kangaroos (0-2) held a three point lead with just over six minutes to play on a layup by senior guard Dustin Dibble, but a Jake Eastman three pointer on the other end about a minute later gave the lead back to BU (1-0) for good.
A layup by Eastman with 1:37 on the clock pushed the margin to five, and the Braves went 7-of-8 from the line down the stretch to seal it. From the 6:56 mark of the first half to the final minute of the game, neither team led by more than five points.
The Kangaroos hit 36.7 percent in the game, while BU hit for a 44.9 percent clip, but a 33-18 advantage in free-throw attempts proved to be the difference, along with the Kangaroos hitting only 38.9 percent from the line (7-of-18). BU hit 22-of-33 (66.7 percent) from the line, while taking a 44-33 edge in rebounding.
The 'Roos jumped out early in the game, and got nine first half points from sophomore Kirk Korver to help. A layup by sophomore Trinity Hall with 9:06 remaining in the first period gave UMKC its biggest lead at eight points (22-14). From there, the Braves cut into the margin, and eventually tied it at 24 by the 3:55 mark on a three by Dyricus Simms-Edwards.
The Braves got a three-point lead with 37 seconds left in the half, but a three from Korver with five seconds left tied it 29-29 at the break. BU's Jordan Presser was big on the glass with 11 first-period boards.
Taylor Brown scored most of the Braves points in the final period though, going for 14 of his 20 points. Presser finished with 17 boards and 12 points, while Simms-Edwards had 21 points.
The Kangaroos were led by Hall, who scored 10 of his team-high 14 in the final period, while Korver finished with 12. Dibble also tallied his career-best rebound total by four, tallying 11 boards in the game. Freshman point guard Estan Tyler got his first career start, scoring eight with a game-high five assists.
The Kangaroos will host Nebraska-Omaha on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. at Swinney Recreation Center. The contest will be televised on KSMO in Kansas City.
