Kansas City
IUPUI
UMKC Season Comes To A Close With 79-55 Loss To IUPUI
3/6/2011 10:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Sioux Falls, S.D. -- The sixth-seeded UMKC men's basketball team (16-14) fell in its Summit League Championship Quarterfinal match-up with third-seeded IUPUI (19-13), 79-55 on Sunday night at the Sioux Falls Arena. The 'Roos forced 14 Jaguar turnovers, including seven on steals, but committed 14 of their own in the loss.
Senior Bakari Lewis led the Kangaroo scoring attack with a team-high 16 points to go along with three assists, while fellow senior Jay Couisnard finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Junior Reggie Chamberlain, meanwhile, also finished in double figures with 12 points, while senior Spencer Johnson grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in his final game in the Blue & Gold.
In the game, the Jaguars scored the games first points, but 13 straight from the 'Roos, including a pair of Chamberlain three-pointers, put UMKC on top 13-3 at the 16:09 mark of the first half.
IUPUI then answered with a 23-6 run to go back in front, 26-19.
The Kangaroos pulled to within four on a Dustin Dibble layup, but the Jags scored 10 of the final 14 points to take a 37-27 lead into halftime.
Back-to-back baskets from Lewis and Couisnard to open the second half cut the IUPUI lead to six, but an 8-0 Jaguar run extended the lead back to 14 before a Couisnard layup with 15:33 left in regulation ended the rally.
IUPUI then extended its lead to 22 at 61-39 but an 8-2 run from UMKC capped by a Dibble layup cut the deficit to 16 with 6:13 left in the game.
The Jaguars then pushed the advantage back to 22, but UMKC again used an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 71-55 with 1:55 left in the game.
IUPUI though was too much, as the Jaguar hung on for the 79-55 win.
In the game, the 'Roos shot 49 percent from the field, but allowed the Jaguars to shoot 51.9 percent. On the glass, IUPUI out-rebounded UMKC 35-20.
The loss eliminates UMKC from The Summit League Championships and ends a season that saw the squad post the third most wins in school history.
