UMKC (17-15) outlasted UT Rio Grande Valley (10-22) with an 82-78 overtime victory on Thursday night at the Orleans Arena. The Roos came out on top in a game that featured 18 ties and 15 lead changes. LaVell Boyd (Chicago, Ill.) scored a game-high 22 points – including 12 in overtime – to lead the Roos. Kyle Steward (Detroit, Mich.) and Broderick Newbill (Kansas City, Mo.) both recorded double-doubles for UMKC and Dashawn King (Bronx, N.Y.) tied a career-high with 18 points.

“It was up and down, and it was fun,” head coach Kareem Richardson said. “I thought it was two teams out there really competing their tails off. It wasn’t pretty, but it was fun, and I’m happy we were able to pull out the win.”

UMKC set WAC Tournament records with 27 made free throws and 43 attempts from the foul line. Steward finished was 11-for-13 at the charity stripe. He finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two timely blocked shots.

“That was the difference, the free throw line,” Richardson said. “We made six more free throws than they did, so that was really the ball game.”

With seven seconds remaining, UTRGV guard Lew Stallworth drained a contested 3-pointer from far beyond the arc to tie the score 67-67 and eventually force overtime. The game was a back-and-forth contest throughout, including a 38-38 tie at halftime.

In the overtime period, Boyd took over, scoring the first six points and then sealing the victory with four free throws over the final 24 seconds.

Boyd was in foul trouble in the first half as he played only 11 minutes and had just two points. Following intermission, he drained his first 3-pointer to tie the score at 43-43 with 17:20 left in regulation and became the 11th member of the program’s 1,000-Point Club. He is the first junior college transfer to achieve the feat.

UMKC took a 61-58 lead on a 3-point play by Newbill with 5:02 remaining in the second half. UTRGV continued to fight back, tying the score 61-61 with 3:42 left in regulation. Boyd drained a triple to break the tie and Steward followed with a mid-range jumper to put the Roos in strong position, but a triple by Nick Dixon with 1:16 left pulled the Vaqueros within three and set up Stallworth’s heroics.

The Roos were unphased as they dominated the overtime period, shooting 4-for-5 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the foul line in the extra period.

For the game, UMKC shot 38 percent (24-for-64) from the floor and 35 percent (7-for-20) from beyond the arc. UTRGV was limited to 34 percent (23-for-67) shooting from the field, 38 percent (11-for-29) from distance and 58 percent (21-for-36) from the foul line.

Darnell Tillman (St. Louis, Mo.) grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds and notched two crucial blocks down the stretch. Newbill finished with 10 points and 10 boards.

UMKC recorded a 53-47 rebounding advantage, 30-22 lead in points in the paint and 19-10 advantage in points off turnovers.

Stallworth finished with 20 points for UTRGV, including five 3-pointers. Antonio Green added 19 points while Dixon finished with 17.

The Roos play No. 2 seed New Mexico State (26-5) Friday at 10:30 p.m. CT