Kansas City
11-15,7-6Summit League
Western Illinois
15-10,8-6Summit League
Allen Leads Roos to Second Half Domination over Western Illinois
2/9/2023 9:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Shemarri Allen scored 21 points in the second half and Kansas City dropped 47 second half points 47 as a team in the win
MACOMB, Ill. - In a game with big implications for the fast approaching Summit League Championships, Kansas City Men's Basketball (11-15, 7-6 Summit) used a big second half to pull away from Western Illinois (15-10, 8-6 Summit), winning 76-64. Shemarri Allen was the catalyst, scoring 21 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, adding four rebounds and four assists.
Western Illinois took a one-point lead into the half, but a RayQuawndis Mitchell three-pointer on the first possession of the second half gave the Roos a lead that they would not surrender for the rest of the game. Allen scored six points during an 11-4 run by Kansas City midway through the half that created all the separation KC needed to pull out the win.
Mitchell knocked down a game-high four three-pointers, needing just seven attempts to do so. He finished with 16 points, while Babacar Diallo had the best game of his career so far, scoring 15 points and pulling down a game-leading eight rebounds.
KEY MOMENTS
- 1H - 11:08 / 15-9 | Six early points from Diallo built up a six-point Kansas City lead. Across the first nine minutes, the Roos shot 6-of-8 from the field and forced a pair of Western Illinois turnovers.
- 1H - 7:36 / 21-14 | Mitchell knocked down his first three-point shot of the day, extending KC's lead to seven, as large as it would get in the first half. WIU scored the next six points to cut the lead back down to one.
- 1H - 2:53 / 29-26 | Another Mitchell triple took the Roos' lead back out to six, but the Leathernecks ended the half on a seven-point run to take the lead into half. However, it would be their final lead of the game.
- 2H - 18:12 / 35-32 | Mitchell knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to open up the second half, setting the tone and giving KC a lead that it would not relinquish for the rest of the game.
2H | Okay @rayquawndis is feeling it ?? pic.twitter.com/r5JpyAGH2n
— Kansas City Men's Basketball (@KCRoosMBB) February 10, 2023
- 2H - 10:44 / 52-46 | Allen finished through contact on a shot in the lane and converted on the and-one free throw. He would proceed to score 10 of the Roos' next 12 points as KC opened up a double-digit lead.
- 2H - 4:47 / 65-50 | Tyler Andrews nailed his second three-pointer of the day, capping the Roos' 11-4 run and giving KC a game-high 15-point lead.
- 2H - 1:07 / 74-59 | Allen broke through the Leathernecks' full-court pressure and found a streaking Diallo for a high-flying jam that secured the Kansas City win.
2H | Oh GET UP @babacar68206069 ?? pic.twitter.com/QCTDtybQch
— Kansas City Men's Basketball (@KCRoosMBB) February 10, 2023
STATS TO NOTE
- Allen's 26-point performance was his 10th 20-plus point showing of the season and his sixth in the past seven games.Â
- The Roos dominated the battle on the glass, pulling down 37 rebounds and limiting Western to just 20 total boards.
- After shooting 2-of-11 from three-point range in KC's last two losses, Mitchell found his shot tonight, knocking down 4-of-7 triples for his best three-point efficiency since the start of conference play.
- Finishing with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, Diallo scored in double-digits for the first time of his career. He also pulled down eight rebounds for the third time this season, tying a career-high.
- Kansas City finished 8-of-15 from down town on the night, a season-high 53.3% clip.
COACH MARVIN MENZIES, QUOTED
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"We really stepped up when we needed to defensively. We were just exchanging baskets for a while, and I thought the guys did a really good job when I requested them to do a couple of things differently."
"We ended up 17-plus on the glass against a team that beat us last time, so that was good stuff. It's just toughness, and that's one of our core values."
UP NEXT
Kansas City stays on the road in search of a season sweep of St. Thomas on Saturday at 7 p.m.
