By: by Scott Lipsky
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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls used a combination of veteran savvy and their wily newcomers to win their third straight season-opener, a solid, 82-62, victory over the Georgia Southwestern Hurricanes on Friday night at the KSU Convocation Center. Markeith Cummings led all scorers with 24 points, while sophomore transfer Aaron Anderson chipped in with 19.
Falling behind 7-0 in the early going, the Owls (1-0) made four free throws to get on the board and then made their first field goal with 15:34 remaining in the first half when Anderson was able to put back a Cummings miss from the right side of the basket to give him his first bucket as a member of the Black and Gold and pull the Owls to within 7-6. It would culminate in a 13-3 run that would give the Owls a 13-10 lead, and would not trail for the remainder of the game.
“To our team’s credit, we didn’t overlook Georgia Southwestern,” Ingle said on Friday after the game. “Our defense started to pick it up after we fell behind in the early-going. We got some rebounds and got some steals and you could start to feel the momentum shift. We steeled in and our defense really kept us going. They were the key to our momentum.”
The Owls shot 50.9 pct. from the floor on Friday evening, highlighted by 9-12 shooting by Anderson and 8-14 shooting by Cummings. Junior point guard Dixon was a major facilitator in the effort, dishing out nine assists to give him his career high. He scored just three points, but it was enough to give him 500 points for his career.
Leading 40-28 at the half, Cummings started things after intermission with his one three-pointer of the contest to make it 43-28 Owls. The Hurricanes (0-1) would hold their own for the next several minutes, cutting the lead to 45-35 with 18:02 remaining in the game. That would be as close as they would get the rest of the way, as Ingle’s squad would take control of the contest, going on a 15-7 run over the next 5:55 to give themselves an 18-point cushion.
The lead would swell to as many as 25 points when Kelvin McConnell, a senior guard and the team’s captain, would make a pair of free throws to make it a 69-44 game with 7:40 remaining.
Junior forward LaDaris Green tied a career high with four blocks, and was part of one of the most exciting plays of the game when he was on the receiving end of an alley-oop from Cummings with 2:01 left in the first half, when he ran down the right side of the court and caught a perfectly thrown lob from Cummings from just past half court to thrill the crowd.
Freshman forward Andrew Osemhen got the start for the Black and Gold in his collegiate debut, chipping in with seven points and leading the team with seven rebounds. Also making their debuts for the Owls on the evening were freshmen RJ Hall and Brandon Dawson, Anderson, sophomore Mirza Sabic and junior Romain Henry.
The Hurricanes were led by Matt Shaw, who had 17 points in the contest. Shaw was making his debut for the Hurricanes, after playing his freshman season with the Owls Atlantic Sun Conference rival Lipscomb.
The 20-point margin of victory was the largest for the Owls since they took down Western Carolina, 85-63, on Nov. 14, 2008.
The Owls will host local rival Georgia Tech on Monday evening at the KSU Convocation Center, with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game will be aired live on Fox Sports South.
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| Coach Ingle discusses the Owls victory over Georgia Southwestern |
