By: by Mark Toma
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Jacksonville Dolphins held Kennesaw State to a season-low 14 first half points en route to a, 91-52, win over the Black and Gold on Monday night at the Veterans Memorial Arena.
The 39-point loss was the largest suffered by the Owls this season and was the second straight loss for Kennesaw State (5-9, 1-3 A-Sun), who dropped their third Atlantic Sun Conference game in four tries. Jacksonville (4-8, 1-3 A-Sun) snapped its three-game conference losing streak with its first league win of the year.
Kennesaw State was never in the game as they shot just 28.3% from the field on 17-of-60 shooting, including 4-of-23 from three-point range. Meanwhile, the Dolphins shot 55 percent from the floor, connecting on 39-of-71 shots as they cruised to a 39-14 halftime lead and never looked back.
The Owls never led in the game as the contest was tied just once, at 2-2, with 18:09 left in the first half. The Black and Gold scored just four points in the first five minutes of the game, but tight defense kept the game close. Redshirt freshman LaDaris Green (4-for-8) hit a jumper in the paint to bring the Owls to within two points at 8-6 with 14:27 left in the half.
Jacksonville scored 10 of the next 12 points to take an 18-8 lead with 9:07 left in the half. Markeith Cummings (3-for-11) drove the lane for two of his team-high 13 points to make the score 18-10, that was the last time the Owls were within single digits of the Dolphins. The Owls went scoreless over the final 5:54 of the first half as Jacksonville closed the half on a 13-0 run for a 25-point lead at the break.
The Black and Gold would score nine of the first 11 points of the second half as they quickly cut the Jacksonville lead to 18 points with a flurry of scoring in two minutes. However, Ben Smith (8-for-10) hit a jumper to bring the lead back to 20 points and the Owls would not get any closer the remainder of the night.
Kurtis Woods (3-for-10) had 10 points as he and Cummings were the only two Kennesaw State players to score in double figures. Green had a solid night for the Owls, scoring eight points while grabbing nine rebounds to along with three blocked shots.
Smith led all scorers with 21 points as he went 4-for-4 from long range. Jacksonville had three players score in double figures with Ayron Hardy (7-for-13) scoring 15 and Travis Cohn (6-for-8) adding 14 points. Glen Powell had 13 rebounds to lead the Dolphins who out-rebounded the Owls by a 55-32 margin.
The Owls will be back in action on Thursday evening as they host ETSU at 5:30 p.m. The game can be heard live on 920am WGKA and on-line at www.920WGKA.com with Craig Corbin, play-by-play, and Scott Webb, color analyst, calling all the action. The pregame show begins at 5:15 p.m.
