Box Score

KANSAS CITY - - Division I Missouri-Kansas City handed the Truman men's basketball team a 71-59 setback in the season opener for both teams at the UMKC Swinney Recreation Center on Friday night.

Sophomore guard Tom Norton (Bloomington, Ill., Bloomington Catholic) led three Bulldogs in double-figures, as his 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting tied for the game high with UMKC's Jay Couisnard. Norton drained five three-pointers and was one of three Bulldogs to hand out two assists.

Senior Alex Henderson (Willard, Mo., Willard) scored 15 points behind a 5-of-12 night from the field, and senior Ethan Freeman (Urbandale, Iowa, Urbandale) added ten points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs (0-1) got out to a quick start against the Roos, leading by seven points at 12-5 with 15:04 to go in the first half. Truman would continue to lead until UMKC tied the score at 18-18 with 8:08 left in the opening half.

The squads played evenly with a Mark Misiewicz (Clinton, Iowa, Clinton) three-pointer tying the score at 28 apiece with 3:25 to play, but the Roos (1-0) closed the half on a 9-1 run to take a 37-29 lead into the intermission.

From there, UMKC slowly slipped away, building up a 57-39 lead with 10:05 left in the game.

But Truman wouldn't go away, closing the gap to single-digits twice in the final five minutes. However, the Roos nailed their free throws down the stretch to keep the game out of reach.

The Bulldogs shot 40.0% (22-for-55) from the field for the game and were 9-for-21 from long-range. Truman did struggle from the charity stripe, going just 6-for-13 as a team. Meanwhile, UMKC was 41.5% from the field but made up 16 points at the free throw line, going 22-for-33.

Truman opens the home portion of its 2010-2011 schedule on Monday night against Culver-Stockton (Mo.) College at 7:30 pm.