Kansas City MBB Out-Lasts Seattle U in Triple Overtime, 90-86

Thursday, January 2

Kansas City, MO

7:00 PM

Kansas City

8-7,1-0WAC

Seattle U

7-9,0-1WAC

OT 1

OT 2

OT 3

Seattle U

Kansas City

Kansas City MBB Out-Lasts Seattle U in Triple Overtime, 90-86

1/2/2020 10:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Box

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – In a game befitting of the tough play in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), Kansas City and Seattle U battled it out in the league opener tonight at Swinney Center. Senior Jahshire Hardnett poured in a career-high 28 points, including four three-pointers, to lift Kansas City (8-7) to a 90-86 triple-overtime victory against the Redhawks (7-9). The win is significant on several fronts for the Roos as they improve to 5-0 at home this year, 7-0 at home all-time against Seattle U, and extend their season win streak to three games.

"This win is important because we have to defend our home court," said head coach Billy Donlon. "Seattle U is a really good team and popped us in the mouth in the first half. Forty-eight hours from now we have to play a good Utah Valley team. This is a good win and we are excited about it, but we have to come out to play on Saturday."

The Roos squeezed every point out of their senior floor leader. Hardnett scored 18 of his 28 points in the three overtime sessions, including 12 in the first overtime. His 30-foot long range bomb with .5 seconds left tied the score at 71-71 to send the game into the second overtime.

Jahshire, who hit the game-winning three-point shot in the Roos last game on Dec. 22^nd, got some help in the third overtime from a couple of other seniors – Javan White and Rob Whitfield. The trio combined for all of the scoring in the final extra frame. White netted four points, followed by a pair of jumpers by Hardnett, and then Whitfield connected on 3-of-4 free throws to seal the conference victory.

White finished with 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Whitfield ended his night with nine points and two assists. Also, senior Jordan Giles, who exited early with foul trouble, had 24 points and seven boards.

Kansas City was out of sorts in the first half on the offensive end. Leading 16-14 on two Giles' free throws at the 9:08 mark, Seattle U went on to score the next 11 points to go up 25-16. The Roos went into the locker room down by 10 at 33-23 as the team shot just 35 percent from the floor and turned the ball over nine times in the first half.

Led by Hardnett and Giles, Kansas City came out with a different energy level in the second half. The two combined for seven points during an 11-3 Kansas City run in the first four minutes. Giles tied the score up at 38-38 on a traditional three-point play and the Roos were back in it.

In the final 10 minutes of regulation, Kansas City never trailed, but couldn't come up with a basket down the stretch. A Giles lay-up was the final bucket in regulation for the Roos at the 4:22 mark. Fortunately for Kansas City, Seattle U struggled to score as well. Four free throws from Terrell Brown were the only points for the Redhawks in the game's final few minutes and both teams got ready to play a few extra overtimes.

Morgan Means posted a team-high 21 points for the Redhawks. Brown, the conference's leading scorer, pitched in 20 points for Seattle U, but he shot just 5-of-21 from the field. Riley Grigsby had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

There were a combined 61 free throw attempts tonight and 52 fouls whistled. Seattle U was 28-of-37 (.757) and Kansas City was 16-of-24 (.667) from the charity stripe.

Kansas City stays home on Saturday to welcome Utah Valley to Swinney for a 7 p.m. tip.

Quick Hitters

Tonight, Kansas City recorded its eighth win playing in its 15^th game of the year. That marks the fastest to eight wins in a season since the 2010-11 club notched its eighth victory in its 13^th game.
Jahshire Hardnett and Rob Whitfield each played 50 minutes tonight, which ties a single-game Kansas City record shared by four other individuals. The last player prior to these two to log 50 minutes was Tim Blackwell on Feb. 6, 2006 against Chicago State.
Hardnett, who bettered his old career high by three points, had 21 shot attempts tonight. That mark is the most for a Roo since Xavier Bishop had 21 at Incarnate Word on Dec. 16, 2017.
Tonight marked the first overtime game of the year and just the second-ever triple-overtime contest in school history (NCAA era). The other three-overtime game was a 110-104 loss at home to Incarnate Word on Dec. 20, 2014.
With a 5-0 home record to begin the season, the Roos tie the 2016-17 program for the best home start. That unit went 12-5 on its home court.
One game removed from a career-high 25 points, Jordan Giles finished with 24 points tonight on 8-of-11 shooting.
Kansas City improved after a sluggish start shooting the ball finishing at 48.5 percent, up from shooting 34.8 percent in the first half.
Kansas City improves to 4-3 in all-time home openers in WAC play.
In the all-time series with Seattle U, the Roos better their record to 9-5.
With a 10-6 advantage tonight in made three-pointers, Kansas City has now made more trifectas than its opponent in five-straight games.
The starting line-up used tonight of White, Giles, McKissic, Nesbitt Jr. and Whitfield improve to 3-0.