Kansas City
South Dakota State
Kangaroos Defense is Too Much, Hand Jackrabbits Their First Loss, 64-57
11/28/2015 3:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - UMKC made it three straight wins on Saturday, and held South Dakota State 19 points below their lowest scoring output, while also handing the Jackrabbits their first loss of the season in a 64-57 decision at Municipal Auditorium.
“Really proud of the guys, man I thought they competed,” Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “We talked about South Dakota State, and we thought that they would be mentally and physically, the toughest team we would face all year. You have to give (SDSU) and coach Nagy credit, this was one of those games I just thought we couldn't press them. They pass exceptionally well and don't get rattled. We just thought it was going to have to be a half-court, grind it out, mentally and physically tough type of game in order to win it, and that's what we did.”
The 'Roos (4-2) had to show their toughness early in the game, with the Jackrabbits (6-1) jumping out to an early 19-10 advantage. The 'Roos never let the margin get bigger than that though, and went on a 16-2 rally that spanned four minutes to take a five-point lead with 3:26 to play in the period. Martez Harrison scored the final six points of that run, while LaVell Boyd hit for five during the rally.
The Jacks didn't go away though, ending the period on a 7-1 stretch to go into the half with a 32-31 lead. The 'Roos shot only 38 percent in the period, but held SDSU to 42 percent. The difference proved to be five three-pointers for the guests, while UMKC hit 2-of-6.
The second stanza was all Harrison, as he scored the team's first eight points of the period and gave the 'Roos a five-point lead with 17:39 on the clock. An alley-oop dunk by Dashawn King from Harrison with 10:55 on the clock made it an eight-point UMKC lead, but the Jackrabbits had another run in them.
SDSU clawed back to tie the game at 49, but this time is was Darius Austin that answered, hitting a three with 5:58 to play. The Jacks tied it one more time though, this time with 1:02 to play to knot it at 57 on a Deondre Parks layup. That is when the 'Roos defense clamped down and Harrison sealed it though, as he was fouled with 45 seconds left, and hit both free throws to give the 'Roos a lead for good. The defense stopped SDSU from scoring on four possessions under a minute.
Harrison played his best contest of the year, tallying a season-high 25 points, and had six assists to go along with it. He hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to seal the game as well.
“(Martez) made his mind up. It was one of the timeouts and I was on the guys, and he kinda came over to me and tapped me and said 'I got you coach'. Usually when he says that I have a good feeling, and he certainly looked like the best player tonight. I thought Kyle Steward was tremendous for us tonight as well. It was his best performance thus far and that is the guy we need going forward.”
The 'Roos shot 40 percent in the game, and held South Dakota State to only 30 percent in the second half and 37 percent for the game. The 'Roos also out-scored the Jacks by a 30-16 margin in the paint, and 16-8 off turnovers. UMKC had a season-low nine turnovers as well.
UMKC ended a six-game losing streak to SDSU with the victory, and improved to 3-0 at home for the second consecutive year. The 'Roos have now won 9 of their last 10 home games.
Shayok Shayok and Austin were second on the squad with eight points each, while Steward scored seven and pulled down a team-best five rebounds.
UMKC will finish its three-game home stand on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. when UT-Martin comes to town.
