The UMKC men’s basketball squad got back on track Saturday at Muni, pulling away in the second half for a 78-64 victory over Chicago State.
“I was pleased with our defense the whole game,” UMKC Head Coach Kareem Richardson said. “Especially seeing the guys carry over things that we have been working on all week leading into this game.”
The Roos (9-13, 2-5 WAC) and Cougars (4-20, 0-7 WAC) battled back and forth in the opening period, but UMKC took the lead with 4:34 to play on a Kyle Steward put-back, breaking a 29-29 tie. The Roos would lead the rest of the way in the half, taking a 40-35 advantage into the break.
Both teams shot the ball well, but the final five minutes UMKC held the Cougars to only one field goal to gain the edge. The Roos hit 52 percent, while CSU hit 44 percent in the stanza. LaVell Boyd led the Roos with 10 first half points, while Steward hit for eight points. The Cougars remained close thanks to five threes going down.
Richardson mentioned the stellar play of Steward, Grant Leach and Boyd in the postgame comments, as all had big games on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
The Roos got the second stanza started right, going on a 11-2 run to rally, with big threes from both Boyd and Leach to put the team up by 14 with 14:16 to play.
UMKC would lead by double digits the rest of the night, and got its largest lead of the game with 3:37 to play at 19 points. The Roos had some issues with the full-court press of the Cougars, and a solid game from CSU’s Fred Sims, Jr., but in the end UMKC was dominant on the glass and from three-point land.
The Roos hit 6-of-9 from three in the final stanza, and out-rebounded CSU by 12 in the contest.
Boyd finished the night with 22 points and a career-best seven rebounds. Leach also set a career-high with 12 points on four threes. The two combined to shoot 9-of-14 from three in the game. Steward put up his second straight double-double, grabbing a career-best 11 rebounds to go with 12 points. It was only the fourth double-double of the year for UMKC as a team. Martez Harrison was in foul trouble and served as a distributor on this night, dishing out seven assists.
UMKC shot 51 percent in the game, while holding CSU to only 38 percent and 32 percent in the second half. Sims, Jr. finished with a game-high 26 points for the Cougars.
The Kangaroos will hit the road on Thursday when it faces Bakersfield on the road, with tip scheduled for 9 p.m. CT.