KANSAS CITY — UMKC held off a late rally by North Dakota to pick up a 78-75 victory in non-conference men's basketball action on Wednesday night at Municipal Auditorium.
UND sophomore
Brandon Brekke (East Grand Forks, Minn.) scored a career-high 20 points and posted his second double-double of the season, but 12 3-pointers, including seven in the second half, by the home team proved to be the difference in the outcome.
“We played well, played hard again, but showed some immaturity in key scenarios. We have to get through that, past that,” UND head coach
Brian Jones said. “Give our guys credit though, we were down 11 and gave ourselves a chance to win it late.”
Both teams held double-digit leads in the contest only to see those evaporate. UND's (4-4) was as many as 12 points midway through the first half, but UMKC (5-5) chipped away and the home team pulled within four to make it a 38-34 contest at halftime.
The Roos opened the second half on a 10-2 to gain their first advantage of the contest since the opening basket put them up two.
Late in the half and holding a 61-59 lead with just over seven minutes to play, UMKC would sink a 3-pointer on three consecutive possessions to stretch its advantage to 11.
“When (UMKC) wins, they make around 12 3's a game and that is exactly what happened tonight,” Jones added. “That is their magic formula for wins. They make 12 a game when they win.
“The guys did not focus on that part of the scouting report … I'm happy with their effort, but when you know a team thrives in that one area, we need to be able to take that away. We have to grow through that.”
The Sioux would not go away, however, coming all the way back thanks to a flurry of their own. An acrobatic layup by sophomore
Troy Huff (Milwaukee, Wis.) capped an 11-0 run that pulled the visitors even at 70-70 with just over two minutes to play.
UMKC caught a break on the next possession after senior
Patrick Mitchell (Des Moines, Iowa) blocked his career-high fifth shot of the game. The rebound fell right to Kirk Korver, who had an easy putback to give the Roos back the lead.
Mitchell misfired on a 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession and the Kangaroos made all six of their free throws in the final minute to secure their third straight win over UND.
Huff finished with 15 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-16 shooting from the floor, while Mitchell added 10 points and seven rebounds to go with his five blocks. Sophomore
Josh Schuler (Urbana, Ohio) scored nine points off the bench for UND.
UMKC finished 12-for-20 (60 percent) from beyond the arc in the contest, while the UND went just 4-for-13 from that range. The Roos also corrected their struggles from the foul line in the first half (1-for-6) by making 11-of-12 after the break. UND made just 11 of its 20 tries from the line.
Reggie Chamberlain equaled Brekke's 20-point output for the home team, while Trinity Hall added 18, Nate Rogers had 14 and Michael Gholston scored all 12 of his points from 3-point range.
UND begins a home-and-home series with South Dakota State on Saturday at Brookings. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. The two teams will play in Grand Forks next Thursday. That contest starts at 7 p.m.
– Go Sioux –
