By: by Scott Lipsky
Box Score
Postgame Notes
Quotes
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls dropped their season-opening exhibition on Tuesday night, falling to the LaGrange Panthers, 61-59, at the KSU Convocation Center. Markeith Cummings and Spencer Dixon led all scorers with 19 and 16 points, respectively.
Battling back from an early, 16-3, deficit, the Owls (0-1) trailed, 59-54, with 3:53 remaining in the contest when Dixon made a spinning layup to cut it to 59-56. Freshman Andrew Osemhen, who was making his collegiate debut on Tuesday night, then blocked a shot on the next possession before hustling down the floor in time for Dixon to find him in the paint for a transition dunk to make it a 59-58 ball game. They would get the ball back off of a Panthers (1-0) turnover, and would tie the game at 59 with 2:05 left when Artie Marine made one out of two free throws after an offensive rebound.
The game remained deadlocked at 59 until a loose ball would result in Osemhen’s fifth foul of the night, sending LaGrange to the line with 0.6 seconds remaining, where they would make both free throws to steal a 61-59 victory.
“Our hats are off to LaGrange, they played an excellent ball game,” Owls head coach Tony Ingle said. “Now our players see some of the holes that we need to fix, and we’ll get to work on that and begin to improve.”
The Black and Gold struggled from the field early on, missing their first six shots of the game before Owls freshman Nick Turner hit a three from the left side of the wing to make it a 6-3 ball game with 16:48 left in the first half.
After LaGrange moved their lead into double digits, the Owls dug in, using a 23-9 run over the next eight minutes to take a 26-25 lead with 2:17 remaining before intermission. The run included a thunderous, one-handed dunk by Cummings, who drove from just past half court to the basket before going air-born, and some pressure defense from the Owls, forcing 10 LaGrange turnovers during that period of time.
Entering the second half down 35-33, the Owls fell behind by nine after the Panthers opened things up with a 7-0 run. Down 42-33 with 18:17 remaining, the Black and Gold would embark on a 10-1 run to tie at 43, notching five points apiece from Dixon and Cummings, with Cummings tying the game with another nice dunk, this time going coast-to-coast off of a feed from Dixon to slam it home.
The Owls would trail by as many as eight points during the remainder of the game, but continued to stay in the contest all the way to the end. They struggled to pull away, however, thanks to their 2-16 shooting from three-point range in the second half, going 5-26 from behind the arc overall. The squad 20-53 (.377) from the field overall.
Sophomore transfer Aaron Anderson and sophomore LaDaris Green led the team with seven rebounds apiece. Dixon would prove to be the best all-around performer for the Black and Gold statistically, recording five assists, four steals and two blocks to go along with his 16 points.
The Owls have 10 days to prepare for the official start of the season, when they take on Georgia Southwestern on Friday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the KSU Convocation Center. The game is Military Appreciation night, with all current members of the military, veterans and their families gaining free admission.
