Kansas City
New Mexico State
UMKC Erases 24-Point Deficit at New Mexico State, But Falls 65-64
1/14/2016 11:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Las Cruces, N.M.) - UMKC made up for an ice-cold first half with one of the best second stanza's of the season, erasing a 24 point deficit at defending WAC champion New Mexico State, but fell in the end by a 65-64 margin.
The Roos (8-10, 1-2 WAC) played their lowest scoring first half of the season, hitting only four shots and scoring just 16 points, while NMSU (10-8, 2-1 WAC) built a 19-point halftime lead, tallying 35 points.
UMKC missed numerous layups in the opening period, hitting just 13 percent of its shots, while the Aggies hit for 47 percent and had a field day in the paint, outscoring the Roos 16-2 inside. Ian Baker hit for 12 points, including three from long range.
UMKC regrouped at the half, and came out of the locker room with a different level of intensity. The Roos trailed by 24 after the first two possessions, but snagged the momentum after that, cutting the score down to 15 with 11:15 left in the half on a Martez Harrison three-pointer.
A Darius Austin dunk with 7:42 to play on a feed from Dashawn King took the margin down to eight, before back-to-back possessions that saw Harrison hit a three and a pull-up jumper took it down to three with 5:55 on the clock. The Roos finally got it tied up at 59 with 4:06 to play when Austin got a bucket and the foul on the drive.
“I thought our guys competed their tails off, and I thought Grant Leach came in and really sparked us,” UMKC Head Coach Kareem Richardson said “Martez was tough, and we had to play smaller in the second half to space them out and be able to score.”
The Aggies got back up by four thanks to some free throws with 1:40 left, but King went to the line with 35 seconds left and hit 1-of-2 to get the margin back to three. After the Roos got the stop, King took a pass up the floor on a fast-break as time was running out, and elected to dunk it at the buzzer.
“The last defensive possession, we did everything perfectly, we got the rebound, but not all five guys knew what the score was,” Richardson said. “Going in there and dunking as opposed to pulling up for a three to tie, but this is another learning experience, Dashawn will learn from it and we will all learn from it.”
The 48 points in the final half for the Roos was the highest scoring half of the season. Leach hit three three-pointers, the first makes of his UMKC career in the second stanza, while playing all 18 of his minutes in the period. The Roos shot 54 percent in the half, and held NMSU to only 39 percent.
Harrison led all scorers with 23 points, including 18 in the second half. Austin tallied 10 points, while Leach and King each had nine. UMKC held WAC leading scorer Pascal Siakam to only 10 points, although he had 15 rebounds and four blocks.
UMKC will continue its road swing on Saturday night when it faces UTRGV at 7 p.m. CT.
