Jan. 27, 2007
Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The end of a three-game road trip didn't go the way the Owls would have liked as Kennesaw State missed its first 11 of 12 shots to help Belmont cruise to an 85-66 victory on Saturday night at the Curb Event Center.
The Bruins (14-8, 8-3 A-Sun) pounced on the Owls right out of the gates as they jumped out to a 9-0 lead after a three pointer by Justin Hare and two more by Henry Harris just three minutes into the game.
After Boomer Herndon hit a jumper in the paint to push the score to 11-0, Ronell Wooten put KSU (8-15, 4-7) on the board with a tip-in. The Owls went on to miss their next five shots as the Bruins stretched the lead to 15 points at 17-2 with 12:35 to go in the fist half.
A Shane Dansby basket increased the Belmont lead to as many as 19 with 2:54 to go before KSU rattled off a 10-0 run to cut the score to 36-27 with nine seconds left before halftime. A defensive foul and subsequent Harris free-throw gave Belmont a 37-27 lead heading into the break.
The Owls came out of the break with a new sense of determination and pulled within four after Golden Ingle lay-up and Brent Ragsdale jumper brought the score to 39-35 three minutes into the second period.
But a mixture of the Bruins' league-leading defense and poor shooting by the Owls saw the lead quickly return to double digits as KSU didn't score another field goal for the next ten minutes. By the time Andre Morgan broke the drought with a lay-up with 7:57 to go, it was too late as the Bruins held a 21-point lead and held on to hand the Owls their third straight defeat.
Belmont had three players finish in double figures, led by Harris with 23. Hare posted 20 and Dansby had 12 in the win.
Ingle paced the Owls with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field. The Orem, Utah native was 2-of-3 from behind the three-point arc and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Morgan added 12, while Wooten chipped in eight.
KSU was held to 34.8 percent shooting, while the Bruins' 58.3 percent performance was the highest the Owls have allowed since the season-opener against Western Kentucky.
After going 0-3 on the road trip, the Owls will be happy to return to the friendly confines of the KSU Convocation Center on Friday night when they host Campbell. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be televised regionally on CSS TV.
