NC Wilmington beats UMKC 76-56 in the Billy Minardi Classic

Dec 23, 2015, 06:52 pm

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Craig Ponder scored 14 points and North Carolina Wilmington beat Missouri-Kansas City 76-56 on Wednesday night in the Billy Minardi Classic.

UMKC led 6-4 but trailed the rest of the way as Wilmington built a 44-28 lead at halftime and were up by as many as 23 in the second half. The Kangaroos went on an 11-0 run, with scoring from five different players, to push their lead to 63-42 with 10 minutes to play.

C.J. Bryce added 12 points and Denzel Ingram had 11 points for Wilmington (7-3), which had 18 assists on 25 made field goals. Jordon Talley had five assists and Chris Flemmings grabbed eight rebounds. The Seahawks outrebounded UMKC 44-35.

Ingram made three of UNCW's eight 3-pointers.

Darius Austin led UMKC (7-3) with a career-high 16 points. The Kangaroos made 40 percent of their field goals, but went just 10 of 20 from the stripe and had 15 turnovers.