The UMKC men’s basketball squad came out strong on defense Saturday night, and won for the first time ever in Orem, knocking off reigning regular season WAC Champion Utah Valley, 66-59. The victory also put the ‘Roos in second place alone in conference play.
“We defended in the second half, desperately and with discipline, which we talked about coming in,” Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “You have to make a few outside shots against a team like that, and fortunately we did.”
UMKC (9-14, 4-2 WAC) held its ninth opponent in the last ten games to 70 points or less, just two nights after giving up 78 to Grand Canyon, the only blip in that stretch. The ‘Roos made eight threes in the game in only 18 attempts as well, including four treys from sophomore guard Martez Harrison.
The ‘Roos opened the game with an 11-3 run in the opening 4:05, and moved that advantage to 17-8 with 10:33 left on the clock, using defensive energy. The Wolverines (8-12, 3-3 WAC) were undeterred though, and made a 7-0 run to cut it to only 17-15. They continued that rally and went ahead by one with 4:24 left in the period on a dunk by Mitch Bruneel. After trading leads down the stretch, UVU took a 27-26 advantage into the locker room.
Utah Valley used its size advantage in the opening half, taking an 18-4 advantage in points in the paint. The ‘Roos also shot only 30 percent in the half while UVU hit 46 percent. The ‘Roos stayed close by holding UVU to only one three, while hitting four of their own.
The Wolverines quickly made it a six-point lead coming out of the break, but then Reese Holliday stepped up to take over for the ‘Roos on both ends of the floor. He hit a jumper, followed by a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions to give UMKC a 34-32 advantage with 16:05 on the clock. That stretch looked to spur a run, as Holliday capped it with another jumper to make an eight point UMKC lead with just more than 11 minutes on the clock. In all it was a 16-2 run that spanned six minutes.
“That just showed our resiliency, I think we grew as a team with that stretch right there,” Holliday said.
After the Wolverines cut it to five, the ‘Roos rallied again, pushing the advantage to 12 with a lay-up and the foul by Deshon Taylor with 7:14 on the clock. The shot that might have sealed it came with 3:07 to play though, when Harrison put up a 27-foot three-pointer at the shot clock buzzer that hit nothing but net and give the ‘Roos an 11-point lead.
UVU could only foul and shoot threes from there, and could never get closer than six in the final minute. It was the fourth win in the last five games for UMKC, the first time it has done that in conference play since the 2010-11 season.
“I feel like we are growing. I challenged them tonight about toughness and doing the tough things. And our guys answered the bell tonight.” Richardson said.
UMKC turned it over only seven times in the game, while forcing UVU into 15 miscues. The ‘Roos made the Wolverines pay as well, taking a 15-3 lead in points off turnovers. The ‘Roos also evened the paint battle in the second half, with UMKC taking a 10-8 advantage in points in the paint. UMKC also shot 57 percent in the final stanza, while holding UVU to 38 percent.
Harrison and Holliday each finished with 17 points to lead the attack. It was a season-best total for Holliday. Harrison also dished out seven assists in the contest, the third-highest total of the season for him.
UMKC will head home to face Texas-Pan American on Thursday in another nationally televised game on the American Sports Network. Tip-off from Municipal is set for 7:05 p.m. and the game can be seen locally on KMCI 38 The Spot.