Kansas City
Oral Roberts
UMKC Falls To ORU Despite 1,000 Career Point From Couisnard
2/10/2011 10:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Kansas City, Mo. -- The UMKC men's basketball team (14-10, 7-6) dropped its Summit League match-up with Oral Roberts (12-14, 9-5) on Thursday night at the Swinney Recreation center in front of a sellout crowd of 1,664. The, 'Roos finished with 15 assists and only 10 turnovers in the game, but allowed 18 assists to ORU while forcing only seven turnovers.
Senior Jay Couisnard led the UMKC scoring attack with 31 points, one shy of his career-high, including his 1,000 career point as a collegiate. The forward also grabbed seven rebounds, while fellow senior Spencer Johnson finished with 10 points and a team-high eight boards. Senior Bakari Lewis and junior Reggie Chamberlain were the only other 'Roos in double figures with 15 and 10 points, respectively.
UMKC hung close with the Golden Eagles early in the contest, but a 10-3 run with 13:52 left in the first built the Oral Roberts lead to 10 at 21-11.
The 'Roos then closed to within five on a dunk from Couisnard, but ORU would score 18 of the game's next 24 points to build its lead to 17 at 39-22.
UMKC would play even with the Golden Eagles for the next 9:30, but a pair of ORU free throws with five seconds left gave them their largest lead of the half at 61-42 heading into the break.
Coming out of halftime, Oral Roberts extended its lead to 21, but a 9-2 run by the 'Roos, capped by a layup from Trinity Hall, pulled them to within 14 at 67-53.
The Golden Eagles then built their lead back up to 18, but five straight from UMKC with 10:34 to play, trimmed the lead to 12, the closest margin since the 7:11 mark of the first half.
Oral Roberts would answer though with nine straight to build its lead to 21.
ORU would go on to build its lead to a game-high 26, before closing it out with 102-81 victory.
In the game, the 'Roos out-shot the Golden Eagles from the free throw line, 78.3 percent to 75.0 percent, but allowed ORU to shoot 50.0 percent from three-point range and 62.7 percent overall.
For the 'Roos, junior Trevor Mason saw action in his first collegiate game after NCAA eligibility rules forced him to sit out his first season and a half.
The Blue & Gold will look to rebound on Saturday when they welcome in Centenary to the SRC at 7:05 p.m.
