Kansas City
Missouri S&T
Kangaroos Run Past Miners Behind Hot Shooting Performance
11/19/2014 11:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - The 'Roos led from start to finish against Missouri S&T in a turnover-happy men's basketball contest on Wednesday night, and shot 53 percent on the way to a 90-77 victory in front of a sold out on-campus crowd.
UMKC (2-1) lit it up from the start on the offensive end, sparked by sophomore guard Martez Harrison, who did it by passing and scoring. He tallied up a career-high 11 assists, the most for a Kangaroo since Marc Stricker set the school record of 13 on December 16, 1999. Harrison also scored 13 points, the 21st consecutive double-figure night.
That said, the 'Roos had 24 turnovers, while forcing MST into 29 miscues. The two squads also combined for 54 fouls in a game that was murky all night. The Miners never threatened to win the game, but stayed in it due to some lights out three-point shooting, hitting 10-of-21.
“We have to play harder than we did tonight,” Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “We told the guys that this was their K-State or Missouri, and they played like it. We also need to work on our effort rebounding as well.”
The contest had its lulls, but UMKC put on a show at times as well. The 'Roos had seven dunks in the game, including a lob pass to a thunderous slam from Harrison to Thaddeus Smith with 7:47 on the clock, making it a 12-point lead. UMKC would push that advantage to as many as 14, but took a 51-39 lead into the half. UMKC hit 59 percent in the period, led by 10 points and five assists from Harrison.
The Miners had 16 turnovers in the period, while UMKC had a 13-to-10 assist/turnover ratio. UMKC's 51 points matched the most in a half for the 'Roos under Richardson.
The final half saw UMKC push its lead to 16 early on, but the full-press, trapping Miners kept playing hard, and eventually cut the advantage to six with 14:10 on the clock. That was as close as it would get though, with the 'Roos pushing it back to double digits for the large majority of the rest of the night.
Harrison largely played the distributor role in the second half, and saw only 22 minutes on the floor overall. He had two key dishes late in the game with a long backdoor pass to Frank Williams for a dunk with 6:40 left, followed by a drive that he put the ball through an opponent's legs and dished it to Shayok Shayok under the bucket for another slam. That pretty much sealed it, as the 'Roos were up by 18 with 5:19 on the clock, and got the starters out.
The 'Roos really dominated in the paint, out-scoring the Miners 48-16, while also turning those 29 turnovers into 38 points. UMKC also blocked nine shots from the Miners, led by four from Smith. The team total was two shy of the school record.
Broderick Newbill paced the UMKC attack with 14 points, while Williams and Shayok each put up 13 with Harrison. The double-double for Harrison was the second of his career and first involving points and assists.
UMKC will be back in action this Saturday in Little Rock, Arkansas for a contest against UALR in the regional round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational at 3:30 p.m. They will then play on Sunday against either Samford or Cal State-Northridge (CSUN) at either 1 or 3:30 p.m.
