The UMKC Kangaroos dropped their final game of the season on their home court 85-75 at the hand of the Oakland University (OU) Golden Grizzlies. As painful as the loss seemed to be, the squad is fully aware there are games yet to be played, albeit tourney style.
UMKC (11-20, 6-12 Summit) took on OU (16-13, 11-7 Summit) Saturday evening at Municipal Auditorium.
Before the jump, UMKC took time to recognize its three senior players: Tim Blackwell, Jeremiah Hartsock and Brent Stephens (who has been out of action due to injury).
The Roos fell into a lull early in the first half. By halftime, UMKC had improved its game, starting with shooting.
They started out hitting only 30 percent of their shots and ended the half with a 44.8 percent clip. Blackwell, junior guard Dane Brumagin and freshman guard Reggie Hamilton earned 16 of UMKC's 30 baskets and by the end of the night, their points totaled 51 of the 75 tallied on the evening.
With only 10 seconds to play before intermission, OU guard Erik Kangas hit a three-point basket, bringing them close to the Kangaroos at 30-28 as time expired.
"If you think about it, we had some really good six-footers, eight-footers and they just didn't go down; we had some layups and some baskets that we normally make and we just didn't go down," said UMKC head coach Matt Brown. "Make a couple of those and maybe the outcome is different."
After the intermission, the Grizzlies came back fighting and held the Roos scoreless for the first four minutes.
With the clock reading 11:28, the Grizzlies found they had built a 10-point lead.
A Hamilton field goal and Blackwell's three-point basket brought the Roos to within five of the Grizzlies 55-50, but OU guard Johnathon Jones came back with a three-pointer of his own to widen the gap once more.
"It all started from second-chance opportunities and Oakland got more than we did," Hamilton said.
With just more than six minutes left in the game, Brumagin hit a three-pointer and seconds later Hamiltion drove into the paint and dished out a perfect three-point shot for Blackwell, whose execution pulled the Roos close to the Golden Grizzlies 62-58.
"Until they stretched it out, there were a couple of minutes left … where we were still in it," Blackwell said. "We cut it to four at one point, and we were just a step away, just another bucket."
As the five-minute mark drew near, referees called UMKC's seventh foul and began handing out penalty shots, by the end of the game 15 Oakland points in the second half alone were picked up at the foul line.
"I feel bad for those guys [the seniors] not getting a win tonight," Brown said, "but for the fifth game in a row we competed to a level better than all year round."
ebrogdon@unews.com
