Chatmon's Double-Double Not Enough As 'Roos Fall to Huskies, 63-61

A running three-point attempt at the buzzer by the 'Roos missed short on Tuesday night as Kansas City men's basketball fell to Houston Baptist by a 63-61 margin. Junior center Fred Chatmon hit a free throw with 1:11 left to give the 'Roos a 61-60 advantage, but three made charities in the final 31 seconds gave the win to the Huskies.

The 'Roos (6-15) got a huge night from Chatmon, who recorded a career-high 17 rebounds to go with 10 points, his third double-double of the year, but it wasn't enough as HBU (5-14) forward Art Bernardi tallied 25 points, eight rebounds and five steals. The loss was the eighth straight for UMKC at home, while HBU snapped an eight-game skid.

Kansas City led for most of the game, and pulled out of a tie at the 13:55 mark of the first half with a 6-0 run. The 'Roos stretched that lead to as many as nine on three occasions during the period, with the latest coming on a layup by junior Nelson Kirksey with 1:53 left in the half.

The Huskies finished the half on a 5-0 run though, getting two steals and converting both to fastbreak layups in the final 1:03. The rally closed the gap to 35-31 in favor of the 'Roos at the half. Kansas City went 5-of-10 from three and 47 percent in the half, while HBU shot 42 percent and hit 3-of-7 from three. Kirksey and Estan Tyler each had nine to pace UMKC.

The second stanza saw the 'Roos come out strong though, and went up by 11 on a three from Thomas Staton with 17:27 on the clock. The Huskies got it down to six a few minutes later, but another UMKC run pushed it back to 11 with 13:59 left.

Slowly, the Huskies chipped away. They held Kansas City to only one bucket from the 11 minute mark until 4:48 was on the clock. During that span, HBU out-scored UMKC 13-2 and took its first lead of the night at 58-56 with 5:15 to play.

UMKC regained the lead at 61-60 with 1:11 to play, but two Bernardi free throws with 31 seconds left gave it back to HBU, followed by a stop from the Huskies defense, forcing Kansas City to foul with five seconds left. Houston Baptist hit one of the free throws, and UMKC raced to the other end of the floor for the game-winning attempt, but Tyler's running three was off the mark at the buzzer.

Also in double-figures outside of Chatmon was Kirksey with 14 and Staton with 12. Kansas City was held to 31 percent in the final half, while HBU hit 48 percent. The Huskies scored 26 points off Kansas City turnovers as well, while UMKC out-scored HBU by 12 in the paint.

Kansas City will get back into conference play on Saturday as Omaha comes to town for a 5:15 p.m. contest, kicking off the second round of Summit League action.

Comets' Leo Gibson Named MISL Player Of The Week

The Major Indoor Soccer League announced today that Missouri Comets defender Leo Gibson has been named the league’s Player of the Week for the 12th week of the 2012-2013 season. Gibson had a standout 16-point performance on Saturday night against the Rochester Lancers, setting a new league record for most points in a single game.

With the absence of Byron Alvarez from the Comets’ lineup, Gibson was moved into the attack against the Lancers, and made the most of his opportunity. Following Ryan Junge’s opening goal, Gibson recorded a first-quarter hat trick before the seven-minute mark, including one 3-point goal. After assisting Vahid Assadpour’s second-quarter goal, Gibson had eight points at the break.

Gibson struck again from 3-point range for the Comets’ only goal of the third quarter, and then added two more goals and an assist in the fourth quarter.  His bicycle kick in the final period brought the Independence Events Center crowd to their feet and put an exclamation point on the team’s 30-17 victory over the Lancers.  Gibson’s 16-point game broke the previous mark, held by Alvarez, who had 13 points against Milwaukee last season.

Defenders Ryan Junge (1 assist, 1 3pt goal, 4 points) and Cristiano (2 goals, 4 points) and midfielder Vahid Assadpour (3 assists, 1 goal, 5 points) were named Honorable Mention.  Fans can watch replays of the record-breaking match, originally played on January 19th, on the archive section of MISLNation.com

The Comets take another east coast swing next weekend with games against the Baltimore Blast and the Lancers, and then return home on February 1st at 7:35pm to once again face Rochester.  Fans will also be able to enjoy the World-Famous Mascot game, featuring Calvin the Comets Canine and all of his friends, at halftime.

Fans can re-live Gibson's record-breaking night by visiting MISLNation.com and visiting the 'On-Demand' section to find Saturday's match against the Rochester Lancers.

'Roos Face Huskies In Final Non-Conference Home Game Tuesday

The 'Roos play their final non-conference home game of the year on Tuesday when Houston Baptist comes to town. The 'Roos are looking to snap a seven-game skid at home, while the Huskies come in on an eight-game losing streak overall.

It will be the third meeting between the 'Roos and Huskies, with Kansas City holding a 2-0 lead. Both meetings were decided by double-digit points, with UMKC taking the last decision by a 73-51 score at home on December 21, 2010. HBU is the only D-I team Matt Brown is 2-0 or better against as the head coach at UMKC.

Houston Baptist enters the game with a 4-14 overall record and a 0-3 mark in Great West play. The Huskies have lost eight straight coming into Tuesday's contest.

They are led in scoring by forward Art Bernardi with 13.5 points per game, while guard Tyler Russell is the only other player in double figures with 11.4 points a contest. Bernardi also leads the team in rebounding at 5.8 per game, while Marcus Davis pulls down 5.3 per outing.

As a team the Huskies shoot only 40 percent, and 28 percent from three, while scoring 61.8 points per game. They have a 0.6 assist-to-turnover ratio, and make 17.7 miscues a contest.

Kansas City just came off a road swing in which it won 2-of-3 games in league play. It was the first time the 'Roos have done that since January 27-February 5 of 2011.

Again the 'Roos will be led by the trio of Estan Tyler, Thomas Staton and Fred Chatmon. The three rank in the top five in several Summit League categories. Also, UMKC has been bolstered by the return of Trinity Hall. The junior forward tallied 11 points in only his second game back from injury Saturday. It was only his second double-digit scoring performance of the year, but the 26th of his career.

Kansas City will continue the home stand with the second round of conference play starting on Saturday against Omaha at 5:15 p.m.

Comets Rout Lancers On Retro Night

On a night when the Missouri Comets honored the rich history of indoor soccer in Kansas City, they came out determined to put on a big show.  Leo Gibson led all scorers and set a Comets team record with seventeen points on the night.  Missouri breaks a two game losing streak with a 30-17 victory over the visiting Rochester Lancers.

Coach Kim Roentved wanted a fast start from his team, “The best teams score early and score often,” said Roentved, “tonight Ryan (Junge) got us going, Leo (Gibson) kept us going and we never looked back.”

It only took eighteen seconds for Junge to find the back of the night as he buried a three point goal.  Gibson had the next three goals before the quarter was even halfway over.  Rochester’s Rey Martinez was finally able to get his team on the scoreboard at the twelve minute mark, but the Lancers went to the quarter break stunned and down 10-2.

Rochester tried to get back into the game in the second quarter.  Employing the strategy that won them the game in December, the Lancers let Doug Miller stand behind the defense in hopes that his teammates could feed him the ball for an easy one-on-one drive to the goal.  Unlike that game, the Comets were ready. Defenders Junge, Brian Harris, and Coady Andrews would push into their offensive third, and then sprint back to defense if the ball was turned over.  The Lancers were able to work the ball up the field a few times to score 11 points, but the Comets added nine to their point total for a 19-13 halftime lead.

With a seemingly comfortable lead at halftime, the Comets came out intent to keep the Lancers at just an arm’s length away.  Mauricio Salles took advantage of the laid back play and scored the first points of the half a minute and a half in.  Leo Gibson, who had been quiet since notching an assist halfway through the second quarter, got on the board again with a three point goal from Vahid Assadpour to keep the Comets well ahead of their foes.

Gibson put an exclamation point on his night with two goals in the fourth quarter, including a highlight-reel bicycle kick from the right side of the goal.  The unanimous choice for man of the match added three assists to his six goals and ended up with a franchise-record seventeen points on the night as he led his team to a 30-17 victory.

The Comets take another east coast swing next weekend with games against the Baltimore Blast and the Lancers, then return home on February 1st at 7:35pm to once again face Rochester.  Fans will also be able to enjoy the World-Famous Mascot game, featuring Calvin the Comets Canine and all of his friends, at halftime.

UMKC Hits The Boards, Picks Up Big Road Win At IPFW, 63-59

In only his second game back from injury, Trinity Hall was put in a high-pressure situation on the free throw line with a two-point lead with 14 seconds left. He hit both and helped Kansas City secure a 63-59 road win at Fort Wayne Saturday.

The 'Roos (6-14, 3-5 SL) used a 13-0 advantage in second-chance points while overcoming 17 turnovers in the contest. UMKC also out-rebounded IPFW (9-12, 2-5 SL) by a 30-21 margin. The contest was a defensive battle in the first half and turned into a shootout in the second, but Kansas City got stops when it needed down the stretch to secure the win, its second straight at Fort Wayne.

The contest started in favor of the home team, with IPFW taking an 18-9 advantage with 7:59 on the clock in a slow-moving opening period. Kansas City started heating up from there, taking the margin down to one at 18-17 on a layup by Thomas Staton. The Mastodons answered with two straight buckets, but Kansas City got Estan Tyler rolling from there.

He led the 'Roos to their first lead of the night after scoring back-to-back buckets followed by another deuce from Staton at 24-22, and then answered an IPFW lead change with a buzzer-beating step-back jumper just before the half to make it 26-25 UMKC.

The 'Roos only advantage in the half was from the three-point line, hitting 3-of-7, while IPFW was 0-of-4. The 'Dons also had a 15-13 edge on the glass.

The final half was a shoot-out though, with each team shooting better than 58 percent from the floor, along with 11 lead changes and seven ties. Kansas City's biggest lead was in the opening part of the stanza at six, but from the 17 minute mark until only 14 seconds remained, neither team led by more than three.

The 'Dons were shooting 85 percent through the first 15 minutes of the half, but Kansas City held the home team without a field goal for the final 5:15. With 3:44 left, it was tied at 59, but Fred Chatmon got a layup with 3:25 left to give Kansas City the lead for good.  Neither team would score again until Hall was put on the line with 14 seconds left.

Kansas City was led for the third game in a row by sophomore point guard Estan Tyler with 19 points, while Staton had 14, Hall had 11, and Kirk Korver put up 11. Chatmon led all rebounders with 10 on the night as well.

Kansas City shot 50 percent, while IPFW hit for 51.1 percent, but a 17-6 rebound edge in the second half for UMKC proved to be the difference.

The Kangaroos will go home now after taking 2-of-3 on the road swing. Houston Baptist comes to Swinney Recreation Center on Tuesday night in a non-conference matchup at 7:05. The game will be televised on KSMO-TV in Kansas City.

Mavericks Fall to Rush, 5-2

The Rapid City Rush defeated the Missouri Mavericks, 5-2, Saturday night at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena. Jordan Behler and Jesse Schultz each had a goal and an assist in the win for the Rush, and Jared Brown and Damian Surma each recorded two assists. Rush goaltender Danny Battochio stopped 29 of 31 shots in the win while Mavericks goaltender Mike Clemente had 34 saves on 39 shots. The CHL’s leading scorer, Sebastien Thinel, scored both of the Mavericks goals as they head home for a pair of games next weekend.

Rapid City scored a pair of goals in each of the first two periods and took a 4-0 lead into the third period. Scott Wray and Jordan Behler scored in the first period to give the Rush a 2-0 lead.

In the second period, Winston Day Chief scored on a scrum in front of the net and Jesse Schultz scored on a penalty shot to give the home team a 4-0 lead.

Missouri continued to battle in the third period and Thinel scored the first of his two goals just 1:19 into the period. Kyle Peto regained the four-goal lead for the Rush at the 7:32 mark on a power play goal, but again the Mavericks fought back. Only 10 seconds later, Thinel notched his second goal of the game to make it 5-2 in favor of the Rush, but that would be as close as the Mavericks would get.

Rapid City outshot the Mavericks 39-31. Missouri was 0-for-2 on the power play and the Rush finished 1-for-4.

The Mavericks return home on January 25 and 26. 

Topeka RoadRunners Sweep Wildcats

Seems like forever since the Runners had swept a series (way back in October in fact) but the feeling never gets old. In a much tighter affair than Friday night’s contest, the RoadRunners scored first and last to clinch a series win against the Wildcats 3-1.

The RoadRunners set the tone in the first period with some slick puck handling in the Wichita Falls zone. Sean Gaffney and Kyle Sharkey worked the puck deftly up the ice with Gaffney finally feeding the puck to Tyler Andrew who found Evan Cowley’s blind side for a 1-0 lead at 6:03.

The tempo slowed in the second period, allowing Conor O’Neil to tie the game going into the final frame.

Both teams played to a near stalemate in the third until Gaffney found the back of the net again unassisted at 16:40, giving the RoadRunners a 2-1 edge. In the final two minutes of the game, Wichita Falls pulled Cowley for an extra attacker allowing Gaffney to fire in an empty netter from beyond center ice.

With the win, the RoadRunners close to within eight points of Amarillo who fell at home to Corpus Christi 4-3. Those same Amarillo Bulls will visit Landon Arena next weekend on Friday and Saturday night.