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McMillan's Third Straight Double Beats UMKC

12/10/02
by John C. Thomas
Conference Player of the Week Paul McMillan continued his stellar play with his third consecutive double-double in a determined effort that won an 86-75 victory over Missouri-Kansas City Tuesday night at the Gentile Center. The 6'6" forward dominated the boards, hauling down 19 rebounds (10 of them on the offensive side) to go with his 15 points and two steals. The frontcourt team of McMillan and Demetrius Williams had two more offensive rebounds than the entire UMKC team, and David Bailey alone had more assists than the opposition en bloc.

Loyola opened strong again, bursting out to an 8-2 lead in the early going. But the Kangaroos would not go away. Michael Watson, the nation's leading scorer kept UMKC within striking distance the entire first half, but the 'Roos never led in spite of 57% shooting from behind the arc. It was 39-38 Loyola at the half.

Early in the second half the UMKC zone defense caused some problems for the Ramblers. UMKC went up 44-40 with 18:15 remaining before David Bailey, who scored only two points in the first half, took over. DB tied the game at 46 with a three-pointer, and then hit three free-throws when he was fouled behind the arc to give Loyola the lead for good at 49-46 with 15:43 left.

But it was Paul McMillan's rebounds and the resulting foul shots from battling under the boards that won the game for Loyola. McMillan notched seven second-half points and finished with 19 boards and 15 points. His frontcourt teammate Demetrius Williams snagged 10 boards and put up a team high 24 points. With Bailey and freshman Terrance Whiters off the bench each scoring in double figures, Loyola had way too many weapons for the Kangaroos to compete with.

Demetrius Williams led Loyola with 24 points, and snatched 10 rebounds in the process. Bailey and McMillan each had 15 points, with Bailey dishing a game-high nine assists against 3 turnovers while McMillan had a Horizon League season high 19 boards. Bailey had one more assist than the UMKC team.

Watson, the nation's leading scorer, had 28 points on 9-of-22 shooting. He gave up three more turnovers than his assists, and he led UMKC in both categories.

LU should have won this game going away. But the Ramblers never opened a double-digit lead until there were fewer than six minutes remaining. The 'Roos' 44% 3-point shooting on 25 attempts kept them in the game. When the ball was flipped up for the tip, the Ramblers were the conference's best three point shooting defensive team. They didn't show it Tuesday night.

It'll take a much better effort (especially on the defensive side) to beat Belmont in Nashville on Saturday afternoon-- and the losses to Loyola Marymount and Northern Illinois make it a must win going in to the toughest stretch of the season.

Click Here for game photos.