KC Roos lose pair of heartbreakers in Summit League basketball tournament openers
In their first year back in the conference after a seven-year absence, the KC Roos men’s and women’s basketball teams dropped their openers Sunday at The Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The men fell to North Dakota State 69-65. The Roos trailed by 22 early in the second half but trailed 67-65 on Marvin Nesbitt Jr.’s bucket with 49 seconds remaining.
Kansas City got it back but Brandon McKissic couldn’t convert on a contested drive and the Bison clinched the game with a pair of free throws.
The men’s team finished 11-13 in coach Billy Donlon’s second season. McKissic was chosen The Summit’s defensive player of the year in an announcement before the tournament.
Coach Jacie Hoyt’s women’s team fell in a similar close call, 60-59 to Western Illinois.
The Roos opened a 10-point halftime lead but were outscored 14-6 in the third quarter. Naomie Alantas, who finished with 17 points, put Kansas City ahead 59-57 with a basket with 29 seconds remaining. Western made one of two free throws and the Roos’ Jada Wilkins missed two at the stripe.
With one second remaining, Western’s Elizabeth Lutz buried a pair of free throws to win the game.
The Roos, who won the WAC regular season title in their final year in the conference in 2020 before the postseason was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, finished 10-12 this season.