Kansas City
12-18,4-11Summit League
Denver
10-20,4-11Summit League
Roos Stymie Pioneers in Senior Night Victory
2/27/2025 10:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Jamar Brown went for 25 points and 11 boards in the win
KANSAS CITY - Senior Night was a success for Kansas City Men's Basketball (12-18, 4-11 Summit), scratching and clawing its way to a 64-56 win over Denver (10-20, 4-11 Summit) this evening. The win puts KC tied with the Pios in the Summit standings with one game remaining in the regular season.
The Roos used an early 10-point run to jump ahead of the Pioneers in the first half, holding DU to just 16 points in the first frame. Denver mounted a second half comeback attempt, but the Roos were able to ward it off in the late moments, capped by a Jamar Brown fast break dunk.
Brown notched his ninth 20-point game of the year, finishing with 25 and adding 11 boards for a double-double. Melvyn Ebonkoli was KC's second-leading scorer, going for 18 points and tying his career-high.
KEY MOMENTS | HIGHLIGHTS
- 1H - 17:03 / 7-6 | Jayson Petty forced a steal on the defensive end, getting an acrobatic layup to go on the other in and taking the lead for the first time.
- 1H - 10:04 / 11-10 | Ebonkoli deflected a pass that ended up in Brown's hands, finding Babacar Diallo in transition for a dunk. A 10-point Kansas City run put the Roos ahead by seven, never to trail again.
- 1H - 3:33 / 24-14 | Diallo found Brown for Kansas City's final field goal of the first half, putting KC ahead by double digits. The Roos entered the half up by 12.
- 2H - 17:44 / 32-17 | Ebonkoli took a pass down low, dribbling into a defender and draining a hook shot to give KC its largest lead of the game early in the second half.
- 2H - 11:41 / 43-28 | Cameron Faas put a dribble move on, stepping back and draining a three to extend KC's lead back out to 15.
- 2H - 6:14 / 52-40 | Ring Nyeri scored five-straight points, hitting a turnaround jumper that got the Swinney Center crowd fired up.
- 2H - 0:18 / 61-51 | Brown came up with a steal and got out in transition, throwing down a dunk that capped the win.
A fitting way to secure the dub ??@jamar_brown2 pic.twitter.com/cqZPQRL83i
— Kansas City Men's Basketball (@KCRoosMBB) February 28, 2025
STATS TO NOTE
- Brown's 25-point, 11-rebound double-double is his seventh of the year and the 14th of his Kansas City career. He has scored 20-plus in four of the past six games.
- Ebonkoli has scored 10-plus points in four of the past six games after reaching that mark just three times in the previous 23 games.
- The 10-point scoring spurt that the Roos went on from the 10:33 to the 7:25 mark of the first half was the first double-digit scoring run that either KC or its opponent has gone on since Feb. 1.
- Kansas City dominated in the paint, outscoring the Pios 36-16.
POSTGAME INTERVIEWS
Head Coach Marvin Menzies | Kopp/Brown/Faas/Diallo Postgame
UP NEXT
The Roos close out the regular season on the road this weekend, playing St. Thomas at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
