Kansas City
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State Uses Late Run to Pull Away from UMKC
12/29/2015 8:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Stillwater, Okla.) - UMKC was within six points of Oklahoma State with eight minutes to play, but went cold from the field and dropped a 61-43 decision on Tuesday night at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
UMKC (7-7) struggled on the offensive end in the opening half, hitting only 24 percent (6-of-25) from the floor. The Roos had only two points after the first nine-plus minutes of the period, but finally started to get in the flow towards the end of the stanza. Despite that, it was the lowest scoring first half of the season for UMKC with 18 points.
Fortunately, the Roos defense was solid, and held OSU (8-4) to 26 points in the stanza. Oklahoma State pushed its lead to 10 by the 9:38 mark, and 12 with 4:07 to play on a Jeffrey Carroll dunk. That is when the 'Roos started to get their rhythm though, scoring the next seven points to get it down to five with 1:55 on the clock at 22-17. OSU took a 26-18 advantage into the break though.
The second stanza saw UMKC storm out of the locker room, getting a three from Darius Austin followed by a steal and fastbreak dunk from Dashawn King to get within three points in the first 30 seconds.
The Cowboys settled down though, and built its lead back to 11 thanks to more defense. It held the Roos without a bucket for four minutes during the stretch, until King got UMKC back on the board with 13:18 on the clock. He kicked off a 7-0 rally that put the 'Roos within four points again, before Broderick Newbill had a layup to make it only three with 11:05 to play.
The teams battled back and forth for the next four minutes, but with 7:05 to play, Tyree Griffin hit a three for the Cowboys that put the lead back to nine. UMKC didn't hit a field goal from the 11:04 mark until only 2:54 remained on the clock, while OSU pushed its lead to as many as 16 during the drought.
The largest lead of the night was the final score.
UMKC was led by LaVell Boyd and King, who each tallied 12 points, while Shayok Shayok and Newbill each pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Roos in that category. The point total was the lowest under Kareem Richardson, while Martez Harrison came off the bench for his lowest career point total, with one. UMKC shot only 30 percent in the contest, while OSU hit 47 percent.
Missouri-Kansas City will play its final non-conference game of the year on Saturday afternoon against USC-Upstate on the road. Tip-off from Spartanburg, S.C. is set for 1 p.m. CT.
