Kansas City
Rockhurst (Exh.)
?Roos Use Big Second Half to Pull Away From Hawks in Exhibition, 83-67
11/8/2014 11:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) – The UMKC men's basketball squad out-scored Rockhurst by 21 in the second half on the way to an 83-67 exhibition victory on Saturday night at Municipal Auditorium. Reese Holliday and Martez Harrison led the way with 19 points each in the contest.
The 'Roos trailed by as many as five early in the second period, but UMKC clamped down defensively and got out in transition, turning the Hawks over 18 times on the night and scoring 23 points off turnovers. Despite being out-rebounded in the game, the 'Roos out-scored the Hawks 50-30 in the paint on the evening.
“We played much better in the second half,” Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “We still didn't defend as well as I would like, and obviously the rebounding was a glaring thing as (Rockhurst) had 14 offensive rebounds. We just can't allow those types of things.”
Part of the reason for the lack of rebounding was because of injury problems on the UMKC front line. Shayok Shayok, Thaddeus Smith, and Juan Ramon Rivas all sat out because of injuries, leaving only one true post man in Isaac Kreuer. Freshman Darius Austin also had to play out of position inside as well.
“It throws us off a lot because Darius hadn't done anything at the five position, and we just found out just yesterday that Shayok couldn't play so we had to change the game plan up.” Richardson said. “But to Darius' credit, he did a good job, and he battled.”
The opening period was a back-and-forth affair, with three ties and 12 lead changes. Neither team led by more than three until the 6:58 mark when a Russell Burns three-pointer pushed the Hawks lead to five. They would get that advantage to as many as seven, and went into the half with a 39-34 advantage.
Burns was on fire for the Hawks, tallying 14 in the first period on 6-of-7 shooting. As a team RU hit 51.6 percent, while posting a 19-11 rebound edge. Harrison had 11 to lead UMKC.
The second half was another story though, as UMKC took its first lead of the period at the 14:37 mark on a Holliday fast-break layup. The 'Roos put it up to as many as five before the Hawks fought back and took their final lead of the night with 10:23 on the clock. Missouri-Kansas City took an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to lead for good, and was up by double digits with over five minutes to play for the rest of the evening.
The 'Roos started five Kansas City area players in the contest, a first in school history, and had 11 players get nine or more minutes in the contest. Ten players also scored for the 'Roos.
Holliday was the leading rebounder with seven for UMKC, while Burns finished with 17 points and nine boards for the Hawks, scoring only three in the final stanza. The 'Roos also turned the ball over only six times and shot 53.2 percent in the game (60 percent in second half).
UMKC will open the regular season on Friday night at Missouri at 8 p.m. in Columbia as part of the Maui Invitational campus round.
