The University News

Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Heather Sprigler UMKC senior forward Jeremiah Hartsock and his teammates had a tough weekend.

On Saturday night, the Kangaroos picked up one more kick to the mouth when it was learned the team's leading scorer and the fifth most prolific in the Summit League, junior Dane Brumagin, would not be playing due to an ankle sprain.

Eighteen points (Brumagin's average is 18.1) fluttered out of the building before the game even began.

Playing against a bruising IUPUI Jaguars (17-5, 9-2 Summit) team Saturday night inside the confines of the ever-intimidating "Jungle," the UMKC Kangaroos (8-16, 3-8 Summit) battled perhaps an even greater enemy … the injury plague, as they fell 90-70 in Summit League action.

Earlier in the week the athletics department released a statement saying UMKC senior forward Brent Stephens would have season and likely career ending surgery to repair his ailing shoulder. Stephens, likely unbeknownst to most fans, had been battling the problem for some time.

Freshman guard Reggie Hamilton battled an ankle sprain for more than two weeks and though he was taped up and ready to play, no one could expect to see his best. Junior guard Akeem Hemingway continues to be hobbled by injury and junior center Alex Pledger has been out since the opening game against Kansas with a foot injury.

The department announced that he too would have surgery to fix his problem.

If anyone was counting, that left the Kangaroos eight healthy players, all of whom would see action, going into the night's game. IUPUI head basketball coach Ron Hunter surely must have been concealing the foam inside his mouth.

Despite all of the injuries, however, the Kangaroos managed to make it a game … at least for 20 minutes.

Rolling into the locker room at the halfway mark, UMKC was trailing by just three points, 37-34. The squad shot just 38.7 percent from the floor in the opening stanza, but that included 6-16 shooting from the three-point arc.

The Kangaroos used a 10-1 run in the final 2:37 to pull close at intermission. UMKC's luck would run out soon enough.

The Jags opened the second half scoring nine of the game's next 12 points, giving them a 46-37 lead. The Roos would get no closer to IUPUI the rest of the game.

A hot-shooting Jaguar squad hit 16 of its first 19 shots in the second half, finishing the period shooting 70.4 percent and ending the game with a 58.4 percent field goal percentage.

Of the Kangaroos still standing, four players scored in double figures, including Hamilton, who had a team high 17 points despite his injury. Freshman forward James Humphrey scored 12 points to go with eight rebounds, and junior forwards Brian Gettinger (12) and Kenny Simms (11) rounded out the group.

Next up for the Kangaroos Saturday night is a trip to Cedar City, Utah and a showdown with the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds.

dstroud@unews.com

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