UMKC can’t keep up with Grand Canyon

A late three-pointer gave UMKC its first conference win on Thursday night. And the Kangaroos on Saturday were hoping to parlay that into a midseason win streak.

But it was Grand Canyon that left Municipal Auditorium with a winning streak in tact.

UMKC held its own in the second half but still fell to Grand Canyon 86-69.

With the loss, the Kangaroos dropped to 6-15 and 1-4 in the WAC.

Grand Canyon, meanwhile, won its third straight and improved to 14-6 and 4-1 in the WAC.

Xavier Bishop — whose step-back three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left on Thursday had given UMKC the win over California State Bakersfield — finished with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting on Saturday. Bishop was 0-4 on threes.

Isaiah Ross added 18 points for the Kangaroos, who made 7 of 24 threes (29.2 percent) as a team.

UMKC shot 42.9 percent (24-56) from the field overall, compared to Grand Canyon’s 50.9 (28-55).

The Kangaroos, who are undersized, were outrebounded 47-22 for the game.

Alessandro Lever had game highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds for Grand Canyon.

UMKC returns to action with a game against William Jewell on Tuesday night at Municipal Auditorium.

This story was originally published January 20, 2018 at 9:36 PM with the headline "UMKC can’t keep up with Grand Canyon."