Kansas City, Mo. -- After a slow start, the UMKC men's basketball team dominated the second half to cruise to a 78-52 victory over Lincoln University on Tuesday night at the Swinney Recreation Center.  Four 'Roo players finished in double digits in the contest with sophomore LaTreze Mushatt leading the way with a game and career-high 20 points.

Mushatt connected on 9-of-12 shots from the floor en route to his career-best scoring output.  The forward also grabbed nine rebounds to just miss his first career double-double.  Sophomore Trey McKinney-Jones and Spencer Johnson netted 16 points apiece, while junior Jay Couisnard scored 11 to go along with seven boards.

UMKC came out of the gates flat, as Lincoln University scored the first six points and led 10-9 seven minutes into the contest.  Mushatt then opened a 7-0 run with a fast break lay-up and a thunderous dunk before Spencer Johnson drained the team's lone first half three-pointer to give the 'Roos the 16-10 advantage.

The Blue Tigers, a Division II team out of Jefferson City, fought back to tie the game at 19 and 21 all, but UMKC scored eight of the final 11 points heading into the break to build a 29-24 at the half.  The 'Roos shot just .375 percent from the floor and .091 from long range in the opening 20 minutes.

Coming out of the locker room, Lincoln cut its deficit to four points (31-27) on a Ryan Spearman long ball at the 19:21 mark, but UMKC then used a 10-2 spurt over the next five minutes to build a 41-29 lead.  The 'Roos proceeded to push their advantage to 15 points (51-36) at the 11:40 mark on a lay-up by Fred Chatmon and the margin was stretched to 21 (64-43) on a long ball by freshman Alex Bazzell at the 8:30 mark.

The rout was officially on, as UMKC lead to as many as 27 points (77-50) before closing out its second victory of the season with a 78-52 victory.

Mushatt and McKinney-Jones led the second half surge for the 'Roos as the duo combined for 25 second half points on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the floor. Johnson, meanwhile, scored 11 of his 16 points over the final 20 minutes.

UMKC's .552 field goal percentage in the second half helped the squad finish with a .459 (28-61) mark for the game.  From long range, the squad finished just 3-of-17 for a .176 percentage and it made 19-of-32 free throw attempts (.594).  Defensively, the 'Roos forced Lincoln into 26 turnovers and they held a 37-27 advantage on the boards.

UMKC (2-0) will now hit the road for the first time this season, as it heads north to face North Dakota on Saturday afternoon in Grand Forks.