By: by Mark Toma
KENNESAW, GA. - After a pair of chilly first-half shooting performances, Kennesaw State will look to heat things up and snap its three-game losing streak on Saturday night when they host the Campbell Camels in an Atlantic Sun Conference game at the KSU Convocation Center.
The Owls (5-10, 1-4 A-Sun) have so far struggled in 2010, suffering consecutive losses to North Florida, Jacksonville and East Tennessee State as the road gets no easier when they meet the third-place Camels. Campbell (8-5, 3-1 A-Sun) enters the game after suffering its first conference loss of the season on Thursday at Mercer where they dropped an 82-73 decision despite 24 points from Jonathan Rodriguez.
The Black and Gold have struggled out of the gate during their last two games as they were held to 14 points in the first half at Jacksonville on Monday night and then were held to 13 points on Thursday evening against East Tennessee State. The Owls are averaging just 24.3 first half points over the last seven games and have been held under 20 points three times in their last five games.
The Owls and the Camels have meet seven times entering tonight with Campbell holding a 5-2 lead in the series which began with a Kennesaw State win in 2006. Since then, the Camels have won five of six games including the last three decisions. Five of the seven games between the schools have been decided by 10, or fewer, points.
This is the first meeting between the teams since an 87-44 Campbell win over the Owls last Jan. 31 at the KSUCC in which the Camels scored their most lopsided win against a Division I opponent. However, the Owls are a different team from last year with addition of Markeith Cummings, LaDaris Green and Matt Heramb in the lineup and the maturity of then-freshmen Kurtis Woods and Spencer Dixon.
The game will feature a unique battle between one of the top seniors in the conference in Campbell's Rodriguez and arguably the the two top freshman in the league in Cummings and Green. Cummings, who at 17.5 points per game, is just behind Rodriguez (18.5 ppg) in scoring while Green is fourth in rebounding behind Rodriguez who is second.
Cummings has scored in double-figures in all 15 games this season, the only Owl to accomplish that feat this season. He has the season record for points in a game (32) and assists (10), leads the Black and Gold with three double-doubles and is the only freshman in the nation to have a point/rebound and point/assist double-double this year.
Kennesaw State's Kelvin McConnell will get to go head-to-head with his former high school teammate, Junard Hartley. The two juniors were teammates at Whitfield Academy. In last year's two games, McConnell had the top scoring game when he dropped in 22 points in Buies Creek, N.C. in the Owls, 77-67, loss.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez has been one of the top players in the A-Sun over the past three years and on Thursday he set the conference career record from free-throws made when he made his 558 foul shot, topping the previous mark set by Samford's Joey Davenport in 1996. The forward is also seventh all-time scorer in the conference, entering the game with 1872 points.
Tip-off between the Owls and the Camels is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and can be heard live on 920am WGKA as well as on-line at www.920WGKA.com. Craig Corbin, play-by-play, and Scott Webb, color analyst, will call all the action beginning with the pregame show at 7:00 p.m.
