Kansas City
New Mexico State
Roos Fall in One-Point Heartbreaker to League-Leading Aggies
2/27/2016 5:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
(Kansas City, Mo.) - UMKC played WAC-leading New Mexico State to the slimmest of margins for the second time this season on Saturday at home, falling 62-61.
“The guys did a good job competing, unfortunately we have been down this road before with another one-point loss to those guys,” Head Coach Kareem Richardson. “I'm really proud of the way our two seniors played today. We just sent (NMSU) to the line a few too many times today.”
The Aggies (21-9, 12-1 WAC) jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead to start the game, with UMKC (10-18, 3-10 WAC) missing some open early shots, but the Roos started to settle in on offense after the first five scoreless minutes. UMKC was within four at the 13:48 mark on a fastbreak layup by Dashawn King, but NMSU pushed it back to seven.
The Roos kept battling though, and did it on the glass and on defense. They got it tied at 21 with 5:28 to play in the half thanks to another fastbreak, this time finished on a dunk by Kyle Steward. A quick 5-0 spurt with 4:33 on the clock, keyed by a Martez Harrison jumper and a LaVell Boyd three gave the Roos their first lead, at 26-22. The Roos took a 30-28 advantage into the half.
UMKC shot only 35 percent, but held the Aggies to 38 percent shooting. The difference was on the glass, and against the best rebounding team in the WAC, the Roos had a 21-16 edge.
Both teams played better on offense in the final stanza, but the difference came at the free throw line. NMSU shot 17 free throws, compared to only five for the Roos.
UMKC jumped out quickly in the final stanza, getting its largest lead of the game at 40-31 after the opening four minutes, forcing an Aggie timeout.
NMSU didn't let it get away though, and chipped away at the UMKC advantage, getting within one with 9:41 on the clock after a Pacal Siakam jumper. A couple possessions later, Siakam gave the Aggies their first lead since the 5:07 mark of the opening half when he had a steal and layup with 8:33 to play. The teams traded the lead on the next two trips, but a guarded three by Ian Baker as the shot clock expired with 3:03 left pushed the advantage to six. UMKC tried to answer with back-to-back open three attempts on the other end, but neither fell.
With 20 seconds left, Boyd hit a three to get it back to a three-point game, but NMSU hit both free throws on the other end. Harrison hit a layup with 11 seconds left to get it back to three, but the Aggies made only one of the free throws with 10 seconds to get it back to four. Harrison hit a three in the corner with 5 seconds left, but the Aggies found an open player on the in-bounds pass and UMKC was unable to get to him in time to foul before the clock expired.
Harrison finished with 20 points, six assists and five rebounds, and became the fourth player in school history to surpass the 1,500 point barrier. He also moved up to third all-time in assists. Boyd was the only other Roo in double figures with 11 points. Steward tallied nine points and a team-best nine rebounds.
UMKC will finish the regular season next Saturday, looking to secure the No. 5 seed in the WAC Tournament. It faces Chicago State on the road in a 2 p.m. game, televised on KSMO in Kansas City.
