By: by Mark Toma
KENNESAW, Ga. - Kennesaw state will look to win its fourth straight game on Saturday night when they host the Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast in a key Atlantic Sun Conference battle at the KSU Convocation Center.
The Owls (9-12, 4-6 A-Sun) three-game wining streak has come on the road and they are fresh of a two-point win at Mercer in which head coach Tony Ingle became the winningest coach in the history of KSU basketball when he won his 166th game.
Pursuing a berth in the A-Sun tournament for the first time, Kennesaw State opens up a season-long four game homestand which will see them host the Eagles, Stetson, Mercer and USC Upstate over the next eight days. The Owls will be looking for their fourth straight conference win, which would be the longest winning streak since the 2005-06 season when they won seven games in a row.
It has been a week of achievements for the Black and Gold beginning with Markeith Cummings being named the A-Sun Player of the Week for the second time this season. Cummings was named Player of Week on Monday after averaging 24.5 points last week. The leading freshman scorer in the nation, Cummings scored 30-points last Friday against FGCU, making him one of only two freshmen in the country to post two 30-plus scoring games this season.
LaDaris Green enjoyed a memorable week as well for the Owls as he registered his second collegiate double-double with a 12-point, 11-rebound night against Mercer. This season, Green is the leading freshman rebounder and shot blocker in the conference.
Florida Gulf Coast (7-13, 4-7 A-Sun), who is ineligible for the postseason this season as they are in the midst of their four-year re-classification from Division II to Division I, enters the game ion a two-game winning streak with wins over Mercer and Stetson. The last time the Eagles were defeated was when Kennesaw State came up with a, 69-68, win in Fort Myers, which started the Owls own winning streak.
Anthony Banks and Reed Baker lead the Eagles balanced scoring attack. The two are averaging in double figures with Banks dropping in 12.7 points per night while Baker is scoring at an 11.5 point per game clip. However, the Eagles have three other players averaging over seven points including Reggie Chambers who is at 9.8 points per game.
The Eagles are doing a solid job on the boards this season, outrebounding their opponents by a slight margin, helped in part by their two top rebounders in Banks and Derrick O'Neill. The tandem makes FGCU one of two teams with two players averaging over six rebounds a game, Banks (6.7 rpg) and O’Neill (6.0 ppg) join USC Upstate's Nick Schneiders and Mezie Uzochukwu.
The teams will be meeting for the sixth time with Kennesaw State winning three of the five meetings. Prior to the Owls win in Fort Myers, the home team had won each of the first four games. The series has been ultra competitive with KSU outscoring FGCU, 344-343.
The Owls and the Eagles will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. and can be heard live on 920 am WGKA as well as on-line at www.920WGKA.com. Craig Corbin, play-by-play and Scott Webb, color analyst, will call the action beginning at 7:00 p.m. with the pregame show.
