Kansas City
William Jewell
UMKC Uses Big Second Half to Roll Past Cardinals, 73-59
11/15/2015 9:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - UMKC out-scored William Jewell by 19 points in the second half and coasted down the stretch, posting a 73-59 victory on Sunday night at Municipal Auditorium.
Junior guard Martez Harrison scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, and the 'Roos (1-1) held the Cardinals to only 29 percent shooting in the period.
The game never seemed to get into a flow, as the teams combined for 60 fouls, partly a product of aggressive defense being played, and the other with the new NCAA rules emphasis on calling more perimeter hand-check fouls.
The 'Roos led though the game's first 14 minutes, but not by more than five points. William Jewell fought to take its first lead with 5:39 on the clock on a pair of Matt Lassen free throws. He proved to be a thorn in the side of UMKC all night, but especially in the first half. He hit a layup with nine seconds left in the period to give the Cardinals a 29-24 halftime lead, while scoring 18 points on his own (10 from the line).
UMKC was paced by seven points from sophomore guard Noah Knight in the period. UMKC was only able to hit 26 percent of its shots in the period, despite having open looks.
“I thought William Jewell did an excellent job there in the first half, they handled our pressure well and I thought that gave them a little bit of confidence, and they made some shots,” Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “Noah started us off with a big three to start the second half. We took our pressing off and we were really solid in the half court tonight.”
The 'Roos forced the Cardinals into 22 turnovers in the game, despite pressing at all in the final stanza. UMKC started the second half on an 8-0 run to quickly take the lead back. The Knight three was followed by a LaVell Boyd three with 17:44 on the clock, and UMKC would lead the rest of the way. They would push the advantage to as many as 17 down the stretch.
Harrison shined with team-highs of 17 points, 6 assists and 2 steals, while also grabbing 4 rebounds. Knight set a career-high with 13 points, while Boyd was also in double figures with 11 points. Dashawn King and Kyle Steward each had nine points as well.
“As poorly as I thought Martez played against Minnesota, I thought he had an excellent game today. He learned from film, and made some spectacular passes tonight, along with keeping his aggressiveness scoring the basketball.”
UMKC was able to get 13 players in the game, but did not play Shayok Shayok due to injury. They did hold WJC to only 32 percent shooting in the game, and hit 42 percent offensively with a 35-33 rebound edge.
UMKC will hit the road for a game on Tuesday night against Omaha at 7 p.m. The contest will be televised back to Kansas City on KSMO, and streamed online at ESPN3.com.
