Staton's Second Half Surge Not Enough As 'Roos Fall 77-65 At Omaha

A 22-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome on Monday night as the Kansas City men's basketball squad dropped a 77-65 road contest in league play to Omaha. Senior Thomas Staton tallied 21 of his 23 points in the final stanza, but lights-out shooting from the Mavericks kept the game out of reach for the 'Roos.

Kansas City (4-10, 1-2 SL) has now lost six straight overall, and eight consecutive conference road games. The 'Roos came into the contest after their best-ever showing against a ranked team, playing No. 25 Kansas State to only eight points on Saturday.

UNO (4-12, 1-3 SL) earned its first conference win, and snapped a two game skid. It used an early barrage of threes to build its lead, with the duo of C.J. Carter and Justin Simmons leading the way. A Carter layup with 12:23 on the clock made it 22-12 in favor of the Mavs.

With 6:20 to play in the first half, Simmons drilled a three to make it 31-17, starting a 12-0 run that would get the Mavs up by as many as 26 with three minutes to play. UNO went into the break, up 43-21.

Omaha shot 47 percent in the period, while forcing the 'Roos into 10 turnovers and only 33.3 percent shooting. The Mavs also drilled 8-of-14 from three-point land and had four players with at least eight points. Fred Chatmon led Kansas City with seven at the break.

The Kansas City offense came alive in the final stanza, shooting 54.8 percent, including 8-of-10 shooting from Staton. The Mavericks also stayed hot though, and hit 50 percent from the floor, with Carter scoring 16 and Simmons drilling 11 points.

The 'Roos got the score down to 16 in the early going, but Omaha quickly put it back to 22 by the 12:54 mark. UMKC answered with a 10-0 run though, sparked by eight points from Staton to get it to 12.

A Staton three with 4:55 to play cut the score to its closest since early in the first half at 68-58, but that was as narrow as it would get. UNO kept the 'Roos scoreless for the next 3+ minutes to seal the win.

Estan Tyler scored all 12 of his points in the final half as well, while the only other double-figure scorer outside of Staton was Nelson Kirksey with 10. Staton also added seven rebounds to his team season-high 23 points, while Chatmon led the way with eight boards.

Carter finished with 26 points for the Mavs, while Simmons tallied 20. UNO shot 48.3 percent for the game, while hitting 10-of-22 from three. UMKC hit 44.8 percent, but turned it over 18 times. The 'Roos took advantage of the boards with a 35-31 edge.

The 'Roos will head back to Kansas City to face South Dakota State on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium. The game will be televised on KSMO in Kansas City.