Kansas City Dominates Second Half; Grabs Road Win at Utah Valley

Thursday, March 5

Orem, Utah

8:00 PM

Kansas City

16-14,8-7WAC

Utah Valley

11-19,5-10WAC

Kansas City

Utah Valley

Brandon McKissic at UVU Men’s Basketball Game

Kansas City Dominates Second Half; Grabs Road Win at Utah Valley

3/5/2020 10:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Box

Defense holds UVU to 35-percent second half shooting

OREM, Utah – The Kansas City Men's Basketball team extended their winning streak to four games after a 61-51 win tonight at Utah Valley (11-18, 5-10) in the final regular-season contest for both clubs. Winners in seven-out-of-10 games overall, the conference's No. 1-ranked defense forced 18 turnovers and held Utah Valley to 35-percent shooting in the second half. The Roos have now swept the season series against the Wolverines after a five-point win back in early January.

Junior Brandon McKissic scored 18 points to lead the way for the Roos (16-14, 8-7), 11 coming in the second half. Senior Jordan Giles added 14 and six boards and sophomore Franck Kamgain finished with 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting.

The Roos will turn their attention to the WAC Tournament, scheduled for March 12-14 in Las Vegas. It will be the seventh-straight trip to the conference postseason event for Kansas City. The seeds and pairings will be announced late on Saturday evening after all the regular-season games are completed.

Kansas City has definitely revved up its defense during the recent win streak and tonight was no different. Holding onto a 37-28 halftime lead, the Roos tightened down the clamps in the final 20 minutes. Utah Valley scored a mere three points in the first six-plus minutes in the second half and went 1-of-6 from the field and committed four turnovers during that stretch.

"I'm proud of our players as we beat a team that had been playing very well," said head coach Billy Donlon. "Our second-half defense was the difference."

During that cold streak by Utah Valley, Kansas City expanded the lead out to 17 points at 48-31. A lay-up from Kamgain and jumper by McKissic put the finishing touches on an 11-3 run out of the break.

Utah Valley cut the lead to nine points on two occasions, the last at the 9:47 mark, but the Roos defensive pressure was too much to handle.

After the Roos grabbed a quick 7-2 lead to start the game, Utah Valley went on a 10-2 run to jump on top by a 12-9 score. With the score tied 21-21 with six-and-a-half minutes left, the Roos defense was again the storyline limiting Utah Valley to one basket in a four-minute stretch. That defense ignited the offense and Kansas City rattled off a 16-7 spurt into the locker room.

Kansas City turned the 18 Utah Valley turnovers into 16 points. Overall, the defense held the Wolverines to 42.9 percent shooting and just 3-of-12 (.250) from 3-point range. The Roos entered tonight ranked No. 1 in the WAC in 3-point defense (.299).

Senior Javan White came off the bench to grab a game-high eight rebounds, the 17th time this year he has led the team in that category. In addition to his 18 points, McKissic collected a season-high four steals in the winning effort.

For Utah Valley, Isaiah White was the leading scorer with 13 points. Jamison Overton came away with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Quick Hitters

Kansas City improves to 10-0 on the season when holding opponents to 60 points or less. The defense has accomplished this in six of the last 10 games.
The 51 points allowed is the fewest against a Division I team since 51 was given up in the win against Chicago State on Feb. 1.
The victory marked the Roos' first road win in Orem, Utah in over five years.
Utah Valley shot well in the first half at 52.6 percent, but was out-scored 15-3 by the Roos from three-point range.
During the current 7-3 stretch, the Roos have led at the half in all of the seven wins. Overall, Kansas City is 14-4 this year when taking a scoring advantage into intermission.
With 14 points tonight, Jordan Giles moved up to No. 14 on the school's career scoring list with 936. Also, his 119 all-time games played is two shy of tying the school's all-time mark of 121.