CHENEY, Wash. -- A.J. Hicks had a career-high 28 points and Jordan Walker scored 23, including five of Morehead State's 15 3-pointers, to help Morehead State never trailed in its 99-89 win over UMKC on Friday night in the 2K Empire Classic sub-regional game.

Lamontray Harris had 11 points and 13 rebounds, Dijmon Henson also scored 11 and Malek Green had 10 points for Morehead State (2-2).

Hicks scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, in the first three minutes and back-to-back 3s by Walker and Cooper gave the Eagles a 16-2 lead with 16:36 left in the first half. Hicks, whose previous career-best was 21 points, scored 23 before Morehead State took a 62-39 lead into the break.

UMKC (0-4) used a 15-4 run to trim its deficit to 15 points with 12:54 to play and then had a 13-3 spurt that made it 86-79 after Xavier Bishop converted a 3-point play with 4:40 remaining. Walker hit a 3-pointer less than a minute later and Morehead State led by double figures the rest of the way.

Xavier Bishop led the Kangaroos with 23 points.