KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The men's basketball team traveled to Avila University on Friday to play NCAA Division I Kansas City and were defeated 138-97 by the Kangaroos.

The Greenville squad saw improvement from their season opening performance and managed to stay in the game throughout the first half. A pair of free throws from Jarred Johnson with 2:15 remaining in the first half cut the deficit to only eight points at 52-44.

Kansas City closed the final two minutes of the opening half on a 13-2 run to carry a 65-46 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, Greenville opened on a 12-8 spurt, capped by a three-pointer from Johnson to cut Kansas City's advantage to 15 points, but the 15-point margin was the closest Greenville found themselves over the remainder of the game.

Kenneth Cooley provided Greenville with 18 points to lead the squad. Travis Dickey posted a 12-point effort, Jarred Johnson had 11 points, and Romello Ball added 10 points.

Henry Johnson was the Panthers top rebounder with five caroms, and Dustin Bankowski chipped in three assists.

The Panther defense forced Kansas City into committing 20 turnovers, and Ball had three steals for GU. Ralph Jalnaiz and Dickey added two steals.

The Panthers (0-2) travel to Murray State for a game on Sunday at 4 p.m.