KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan 2 - UMKC's Bakari Lewis hadn't hit a 3-pointer all night but the junior point guard knocked one down with 17 seconds to go to break a 50-50 tie and lift the Kangaroos to a 53-50 Summit League win over Southern Utah Saturday night.

            After Lewis' shot the Thunderbirds called time out to set up a final shot but Davis Baker's attempt to tie it with four seconds to play rimmed out and Jay Couisnard grabbed the rebound for UMKC to seal the win.

            "Money players step up at the right time and that's what [Lewis] did," SUU Coach Roger Reid pointed out. "Give Davis Baker credit. We ride him like a mule but we need to have other people step up. We've got a young team but we still need to do the things we need to do.

            "You make your own breaks," Reid added. "The disappointing thing to me is we didn't get the stop when we needed one. You've got to step up and make stops at critical times and we didn't do that."

            Baker led Southern Utah with 20 points, all in the second half, but SUU didn't get a lot of offensive help from anyone else after the break as Baker scored 20 of the team's 25 second half points. He was the only Thunderbird to score in double figures.

            UMKC, meanwhile, had four players with 11 points each, Couisnard, LaTreze Mushatt and Spencer Johnson.

            The second half was back-and-forth all the way with neither team holding more than a five point lead. SUU's biggest lead in the second half was 45-40 after a Baker 3-pointer with 5:32 to play, but UMKC responded with an 8-1 run to take a 48-46 lead a pair of Couisnard free throws.

            SUU tied it at 48-48 when Drew Allen rebounded a Ryan Brimley miss and scored inside, but Mushatt scored on a drive to give the edge back to the 'Roos. Baker then pulled SUU even with a pair of free throws with 42 seconds to play.

            The biggest lead of the game came when Southern Utah went on a 10-0 run midway through the first half to take a 23-15 advantage. Allen came off the bench to hit a pair of 3-pointers and Jake Nielson scored four points during the run. UMKC responded with a run of its own, however, and outscored the Thunderbirds 13-2 in the final five minutes of the half to take a 26-25 advantage at halftime.

            Lewis had hit just 2-of-10 shots overall and was 0-for-4 from long-range before hitting his game-winner as the Thunderbirds had an excellent defensive effort, holding UMKC to 19-of-56 shooting (.339) on the night, including 4-of-18 from 3-point range. Turnovers were SUU's biggest enemy, however, as the Thunderbirds gave it away 20 times while UMKC turned it over just seven times.

            SUU also held a 38-to-30 rebounding edge, as Baker and Drew Allen each pulled down seven boards to lead the Thunderbirds. Allen's seven rebounds were a career-high, as were his eight points.

            "We had too many turnovers, we're making strides but you can't turn the ball over 20 times," Reid pointed out. "In a close game that's really going to hurt you, we're lucky to be in the game with 20 turnovers.

            "Our guys played hard on the road tonight. We've practiced hard and we've played hard but we haven't been able to win on the road yet.

            "We're doing a good job defensively, holding teams below 40 percent but the team that makes the fewest mistakes usually wins and we've been making the most mistakes."

-- SUU --