Roos Share the Basketball in 99-41 Victory

Monday, January 27

Kansas City, MO

7:00 PM

Kansas City

11-11,3-4WAC

Crowley's Ridge (Ark.)

0-1

Crowley's Ridge

Kansas City

Roos Share the Basketball in 99-41 Victory

1/27/2020 9:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Box

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City Men's Basketball was in the giving spirit tonight posting 24 assists on 37 field goals en route to a 99-41 victory tonight against Crowley's Ridge (7-13) in non-conference action. Balanced scoring was the norm for the Roos with five players hitting for 10-plus points and the other four notching at least five points.

Kansas City now improves to 11-11 overall, which already equals the same win amount as last season.

The Roos led wire-to-wire in their final non-league contest of the year and flexed their muscle against a smaller-sized opponent. The 58-point margin of victory stands as the second-most ever over an opponent.

Freshman Josiah Allick, who has seen his playing time increase to nearly 27 minutes in his last four games, came out aggressive again for the Roos. He scored eight of the team's first 11 points, four coming on dunks, to give Kansas City an 11-3 lead out of the gate.

Allick was not the only one bringing the Roo fans to their feet. With nine first-half points, senior Rob Whitfield splashed a trio of three-pointers and sophomore Franck Kamgain already had eight. Overall, seven of the nine players in the first half scored at least four points.

The Roos enjoyed a 45-29 lead at the half thanks to 14 assists on 18 made buckets.

Head coach Billy Donlon seemed happy with the team's effort to share the ball tonight.

"The guys are seeing the game better and doing their homework and having an idea of where the ball needs to go before you catch it."

Kansas City stayed on the gas pedal at the start of the second half. The Roos' defense held the Pioneers scoreless for 5:08 and ripped off a 19-0 run to take a 64-29 lead.

Crowley's Ridge never could recover from that point, only scoring 12 second-half points on 5-of-25 (.200) shooting.

There were a number of impressive statistical performances both individually and as a team tonight. Collectively, the 19 steals were a season-high and the 14 made three-pointers also were the most this year.

In the scoring column, Allick had a career-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting and he snared a team-high nine rebounds. Junior Brandon McKissic recorded 15 points, Kamgain had 14 points and a team-high seven assists, Whitfield finished with 13 and senior Jahshire Hardnett collected 10.

In the post-game press conference, Donlon praised his young stars Allick and Kamgain on their effort.

"Nobody plays harder or works harder than Josiah. That's a little scary, because he is a freshman. When you look at his last four games, he has almost had a double-double.

"For Franck, there are some nights where he stays here until midnight and that is not coach-driven. The reason why he is having success now is because he has never stopped working every day through the stretches where he barely played. I believe that is a credit to who he is as a person and his upbringing and his family.

"Both want to grow their games and I think that is an important aspect. I think both have made the most of their opportunity."

For Crowley's Ridge, Randy Stanley was the only player in double-figures with 18 points. As a team, the Pioneers shot just 33.3 percent (17-of-51). Kansas City converted 21 Pioneer turnovers into 30 points.

Kansas City next visits Chicago State Saturday at Noon to wrap up the first-half of the conference season.

Quick Hitters

The Roos shot 56.1 percent (37-of-66) overall, which marks the fifth time this year they nailed at least 50 percent of their shot attempts.
Kansas City moves to a perfect 5-0 at home this year in non-conference games and 7-2 overall at Swinney Center.
Jordan Giles played in his 111^th career game at Kansas City. That amount is tied for eighth most in KC history with two other players.
Rob Whitfield entered tonight with 131 career three-pointers. His three first-half bombs tied him for 10^th-most all-time in three-pointers made with 134 at Kansas City.
Josiah Allick is now averaging 11.3 points in his last four games, up from his 5.5 season average.
The 19 steals tonight were the most since snatching 20 against Haskell on Nov. 12, 2017. Looking at the school record, 22 is the most done against William Jewell on Nov. 29, 2014.
The 14 three-pointers were the most by the Roos since they hit 16 against Elon University on Dec. 22, 2018.
In the last two games, Kansas City has turned the ball over just 15 times, with eight tonight. That is the lowest two-game stretch of the season.
After tonight's blow-out win, Kansas City has won three games this season by margins of 73, 58 and 53. Those rank in the top-four all-time for the largest margins of victory.