Feb. 22, 2005

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The UMKC men's basketball team utilized a career scoring night from sophomore Quinton Day to defeat Oral Roberts 77-70 in a Mid-Continent Conference battle for first place at Municipal Auditorium Tuesday (Feb. 22). A crowd of 7,132, the sixth-largest crowd in school history, was on hand to witness the victory.

By virtue of the win, UMKC, now 15-9 overall and 11-2 in the Mid-Con, regained first place by a half-game over ORU (21-6, 11-3). The Kangaroos 11 conference victories are a school record. It is also UMKC's fourth consecutive victory against Oral Roberts dating back to last season.

Day scored 22 points, going 8-for-22 from the floor, including a key layup with 2:53 to go in the game to give UMKC a 65-56 advantage.

Oral Roberts cut the Kangaroos' lead to 66-62 on a Jonathan Bluitt jumper with 1:22 to play, but a pair of Day free throws on the subsequent UMKC possession put gane out of reach for the Golden Eagles.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair, with four ties and six lead changes. The final tie came at the break as the teams were knotted at 33-33.

UMKC opened the second half on a 7-2 run to jump out to a 42-35 edge on a MIke English free throw with 16:54 remaining. However, the Golden Eagles rebounded quickly, taking a 56-54 lead on Caleb Green's layup with 6:35 to go in the period.

An English layup off a Day assist with 5:32 left gave the Kangaroos the lead for good at 57-56.

Senior guard Brandon Temple added 19 points for UMKC, while English chipped in with 16 points. Senior center Carlton Aaron registered his 10th double-double of the season with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Green led all scorers in the game with 26. He also pulled down 19 rebounds for a double-double.

UMKC converted 27-of-60 shots from the floor for a 45.0 shooting percentage. The Kangaroos were also 20-for-32 at the free throw line. ORU finished the game with a 37.5 shootng percentage (27-72), including just 2-for-15 from three-point range.

The Golden Eagles had a 48-33 rebound advantage.

UMKC's next game is a Thu., Feb. 24 Mid-Con encounter at Chicago State. Tip time for the contest is 7 p.m. CST. The game will air on SportsRadio 810 WHB.