KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Issiah Grayson scored 23 points and Cal State Bakersfield built a substantial second half lead before hanging on to beat Missouri-Kansas City 74-69 on Thursday night.
Aly Ahmed contributed 19 points and nine rebounds and the Roadrunners made 51 percent from the field.
Cal State Bakersfield (12-14, 5-7 Western Athletic Conference) finished the first half with a Grayson trey and posted a 29-24 lead over UMKC at the break. Grayson and Ahmed combined for 14 points in the first 5 minutes of the second half and UCSB upped the spread to 44-32.
The Roadrunners maintained a double-digit lead throughout most of the second half before UMKC (7-18, 4-8) closed the gap to five points on some key offensive rebounds, leading to four second-chance points in the final seconds.
Martez Harrison scored 20 in the Kangaroo effort as UMKC suffered its seventh-consecutive loss.
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