UMKC rallies down the stretch and puts end to three-game skid

UMKC was able to put an end to a midseason losing streak on Saturday night. The Kangaroos needed a late-game rally to do it.

UMKC knocked back Seattle 63-54 at Swinney Recreation Center and ended its losing streak at three games.

For much of the second half it looked as if that streak was headed to four.

UMKC led 26-24 at the half. But it was Seattle that took control to start the second half: Terrell Brown helped pilot a 17-6 run and the Redhawks had a 41-32 lead with just under 14 minutes to play.

UMKC pushed back a little and got the deficit to 45-37 with 8:34 left and 49-42 with 6:16 left in the game. That’s when UMKC rallied. Dominate is more like it.

UMKC outscored Seattle 21-5 over the last six minutes of the game, taking the lead on a Rob Whitfield jump shot (50-49) with 4:03 to play and then topping Seattle by the final margin of nine points.

UMKC improved to 8-13 and 3-3 in the WAC. Seattle dropped to 13-9, 1-6.

Xavier Bishop finished with 22 points and moved into 15th place on UMKC’s all-time scoring list. Bishop, a 5-8 junior from Springfield, Ill., has 915 career points. He moved ahead of Carlton Aaron’ 902 points.

Brown led the Redhawks with 22 points.

UMKC, which is playing all of its conference home games this season at Swinney, instead of mixing between Swinney and Municipal Auditorium, improved to 3-1 at Swinney this season.

UMKC next plays at New Mexico State on Thursday night.