Kansas City Roos men roll past St. Thomas at Swinney Center for Summit League victory

A return to the friendly confines of Swinney Center was a good fit for the Kansas City Roos men’s basketball team Thursday night. Particularly in the second half.

Kansas City busted the game open in the second half on the way to a 81-60 victory over St. Thomas.

The Roos were returning home after a 1-2 road trip. But Thursday’s win put Kansas City back above .500 in Summit League play at 3-2. The Roos improved to 7-11 overall. St. Thomas is 4-3 in league, 13-7 overall.

KC trailed the Tommies 34-33 with just over a minute elapsed in the second half. From there, it was all Roos. KC outscored St. Thomas 48- 26 the rest of the way.

RayQuawndis Mitchell dropped in a game-high 29 points for the Roos. Mitchell made nine of 18 shots from the field, going 4-of-11 on three-pointers, and turned it over five times. Teammate Shemarri Allen had 17 points and five assists.

The Roos outshot St. Thomas from the field at a clip of 48.1% (26 of 54) to St. Thomas’ 30.4% (17 of 56). KC also out-rebounded the Tommies 39-30.

Kansas City will be back in action Saturday with another home game at Swinney Center, meeting Western Illinois at 7 p.m.

Roos women stumble at St. Paul

The Kansas City Roos women’s team was knotted up at 60-60 with 44 seconds left on Thursday in St. Paul, Minnesota. But St. Thomas’ Jade Hill hit a jumper and a free throw to hand the Roos a 63-60 defeat.

It was the Tommies’ first win this season in Summit League play.

Kansas City fell to 1-5 in conference games and 5-12 overall. St. Thomas is 1-6 in league, 6-11 overall.

Manna Mensah had 16 points and six rebounds for the Roos. Machia Mullens added 11 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block with four turnovers.

The Roos are set to play Western Illinois in Macomb, Ill., on Saturday at 2 p.m.

This story was originally published January 12, 2023 at 10:05 PM.