Kansas City
5-10,1-1Summit League
Denver
10-5,1-1Summit League
Kansas City Falls to Denver in Triple OT Heartbreaker
12/30/2022 12:41:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Shemarri Allen scored a career-high 34, including a game-tying buzzer beater, but Denver prevailed in the third extra period
DENVER, Colo. – Kansas City (5-10, 1-1 Summit) fought back from a 15-point deficit with just over six minutes remaining to tie the game in regulation time, only to fall 85-83 to Denver (10-5, 1-1 Summit) in triple overtime Thursday night here in Hamilton Gymnasium. The heartbreaking loss gave the Roos their first League loss of the season and it denied coach Marvin Menzies his 250th win as a head coach.
Shemarri Allen scored a career-high 34 points, RayQuawndis Mitchell had 14 and Tyler Andrews added 12 to lead Kansas City. Tommy Bruner scored a career-high 29 points to lead Denver. The Roos were out-rebounded 55-40, had two players foul out with another three finishing the game with four fouls.
Down 53-38 with 6:16 left in the game, the Roos went on a 28-15 run to tie the game at 66-66, thanks to a top of the key 3-pointer by Allen as time expired. Late in the game and overtime periods, it was a dual between Allen and Bruner. Each put their teams on their backs and kept hopes of winning alive. Allen scored 15 of the Roos' last 24 points in regulation and added eight more in the overtime period. Bruner scored 17 points in the overtime periods, including all nine of Denver's points in the third overtime.
KEY MOMENTS
- 1H - 15:18 / 7-9 | The Roos were already whistled for five personal fouls by the first media timeout. Denver, one of the top free throw shooting teams in the country, scored seven of its first nine points from the line. Promise C. Idiaru picked up two quick fouls, but dunks by Mitchell and Jeff Ngandu kept the game close.
- 1H - 7:31 / 18-20 | Allen has hit four of his first five shots and leads all scorers with 10 points in a game filled with fouls (9 for KC, 6 for Denver)
- 1H - 3:56 / 20-24 | Both teams went cold from the field, going 1-for-7 during a 5-minute stretch as the Pioneers held a 24-20 lead with 3:56 left in the first half. Kansas City had 12 fouls and four players had been whistled for two each.
- HALFTIME / 22-26 | Kansas City held Denver scoreless for the final 3:03 of the half, but the Roos missed 10 of their last 11 shots from the floor and trailed by four at halftime. Kansas City was out-rebounded 20-13 in the opening period, 6-2 on the offensive glass.
- 2H - 15:22 / 27-32 | The cold shooting continued into the second half, as Kansas City went 2-for-7 and Denver 3-for-7 at the first media timeout. At one point of the second half, Kansas City missed two point-blank layups and Denver did the same on consecutive possessions.
- 2H - 6:16 / 38-53 | The Roos found themselves in a tough spot, behind 15 with just over six minutes left. Mitchell and Allen hit back-to-back three-pointers to start the rally and the Roos chipped away at the lead before Allen hit another three to cut the lead to 57-55 with 1:57 left.
- 2H - 0:00 / 66-66 | After the fouling game allowed Kansas City a final possession, down three with 2.8 seconds remaining, Allen took the inbounds, cut up the court and nailed a game-tying three as the buzzer sounded to sent the game to overtime.
2H | SHEMARRI. ALLEN. A DAWG.#ROOUP | @shemarriallen23 pic.twitter.com/uEFev1GEG1
— Kansas City Men's Basketball (@KCRoosMBB) December 30, 2022
- FIRST OVERTIME | Both teams were 2-for-7 from the field and 1-for-2 from the line as the first OT ended at 71-71. Mitchell picked up his fifth foul with 1:37 left and Corbett made one of two free throws for a 69-67 lead. Allen made two tough layups for the remaining four KC points.
- SECOND OVERTIME | The Roos had a 75-71 lead with 2:35 left, but a steal and layup by Bruner cut that to two and Tainamo hit a three-pointer to give the Pioneers a 76-75 lead. Ngandu had a chance to give the Roos a lead, but he hit just one of two free throws with 39 seconds left and left the game tied at 76-76. Kansas City played great defensive on Denver's final possession and sent the game into a third overtime.
2OT | @shemarriallen23 have mercy ?? pic.twitter.com/gv2DQmZ5oR
— Kansas City Men's Basketball (@KCRoosMBB) December 30, 2022
- THIRD OVERTIME | Emmanouil Dimou's three-pointer with 3:57 left gave the Roos an 81-80 lead, but Bruner hit an 18-footer as Denver went back up by a point. Allen scored his 34th point of the night on a driving layup to give KC an 83-82 lead, but it was Bruner's 3-pointer with 1:09 left that gave Denver the final 85-83 margin. Allen had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but Corbett came up with a huge block to end the game.
STATS TO NOTE
- This was just the third triple overtime game in program history, and the first since KC defeated Seattle U, 90-86 on Jan. 2, 2020. Kansas City is now 1-2 in triple overtime games.
- Allen played all but one minute in the contest, officially logging 53:57 of playing time. That mark sets a program record.
- Finishing with 34 points, Allen has set his career-high scoring mark seven times this year.
- Ngandu finished with five blocks, the most by a Roo since Aleer Leek's five-block performance against SEMO on Dec. 6, 2017.
- Kansas City forced five turnovers in the first eight minutes and capitalized for eight points off of those Denver miscues. Allen had two of the three KC steals.
- Both teams went cold from the field, going 1-for-7 during a 5-minute stretch as the Pioneers held a 24-20 lead with 3:56 left in the first half.
- Denver is a team that gets to free throw line often and the Pioneers made 11-of-15 in the opening half to overcome a 7-for-21 shooting performance from the field.
- Kansas City came into the game ranked 8th nationally in offensive rebounds at 14.2 per game and had 13 tonight. Denver, however, had 17 offensive boards on the way to a 55-40 advantage.
- Kansas City had just nine turnovers in the 55 minutes of play.
COACH MARVIN MENZIES, QUOTED
"I'm very proud of their fight. They were ready to play hard and play with effort ... Good teams play hard and execute."
"(Allen's buzzer-beater) was a big time shot. That's a returner's shot, somebody that has some experience. We don't have a lot of guys that have that."
UP NEXT
Kansas City remains on the road and will face Omaha in a New Year' Eve matinee tipping at 1 p.m. The Roos will then be off a week before heading out to face Oral Roberts on Jan. 7 in Tulsa.
