Men's Basketball Can't Overcome Early Hole in Bahamas Championship

Sunday, November 24

Bahamas, Nassau

8:00 PM EST

Kansas City

4-3

Liberty University

7-0

Kansas City Roos

Liberty Flames

Men's Basketball Can't Overcome Early Hole in Bahamas Championship

11/24/2019 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

NASSAU, Bahamas - The Kansas City Men's Basketball team (4-4) took on a NCAA-tournament squad last year facing a tough test in undefeated Liberty (8-0). The Roos came up short by a 62-49 score tonight in The Islands of the Bahamas Classic championship contest. With eight points, four rebounds and two assists tonight, senior Rob Whitfield was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Senior Jordan Giles led the way for the Roos with 13 points and junior Brandon McKissic came off the bench to net 11.

"We lost to a team that was a 12-seed in last year's NCAA tournament, while winning 29 games," said head coach Billy Donlon. "This was a great experience for our guys to understand what a championship program looks like and plays like. The ball did not go in the basket tonight and our defense wasn't good enough to carry us. We will grow from this trip."

Playing its third game in as many days, Kansas City fell into a 10-0 hole until sophomore Franck Kamgain scored a lay-up at the 14:31 mark for the team's first points. That sluggish start was too much to overcome tonight against the Flames.

The Roos cut the deficit to six points at three different points in the first half, the last after a freshman Maks Klanjscek inside-basket to make the score 28-22 with 3:19 left. Liberty scored the final four points to go into the locker room up 32-22.

Kansas City hurt their chances by shooting a cold 34.6 percent (9-of-26) in the first half.

The first couple minutes of the second half looked promising for the Roos. Giles and McKissic countered by each swishing a jumpr to start the scoring and Kansas City trailed 32-26. But, that was the closest the Roos could get.

Three free throws by two Liberty players was the end of a 17-2 scoring run and the undefeated Flames had a 21-point lead at that point (49-28).

Liberty cruised to the win from there, always holding a double-digit lead.

Kansas City shot 41.7 percent (20-of-48) overall, just a clip lower than Liberty's 42.6 percent (20-of-47). The Flames were plus-nine on the glass, holding a 33-24 rebounding edge.

Georgi Pacheco-Ortiz was the Liberty leader in the scoring column, finishing with 14 points. Scottie James added 12 points and six boards.

The Roos head back home to Swinney Center Saturday at 7 p.m. to host Western Illinois.

Quick Hitters

In the three games at the Classic, Rob Whitfield averaged 14.0 points and 3.3 rebounds. He recorded a career-high 29 points on seven three-pointers in the Saturday win against East Carolina.
Kansas City had very few chances on the foul line, going just 4-of-6 compared to 17-of-19 for Liberty.
The four wins collected for the Roos prior to Dec. 1 is the most wins prior to that date since the 2016-17 program went 6-2 before Dec. 1. That team finished with a 18-17 overall record.
By gaining its fourth win playing in its seventh overall game, Kansas City is seeing early success it has not accomplished recently. Kansas City notched win No. 4 in its 12th game last year.