By: by Scott Lipsky
Box Score Notes
OMAHA, Neb. –Spencer Dixon had 16 points as one of three Owls in double figures for Kennesaw State in a hard-fought battle on Friday evening, but the Creighton Blue Jays came out on top at the end of the night, 75-57, at the Qwest Center in downtown Omaha, to wrap-up the Owls play in the Global Sports Hy-Vee Challenge. The loss was the fifth in a row for the Owls.
Trailing, 36-24, at halftime, the Owls (2-5) had the deficit down to 10 in the second half, but the Blue Jays (4-1) used an 8-0 run that consisted of a pair of three-point baskets by Doug McDermott and a 15-foot jumper by Darryl Ashford to take a 20-point lead with 12:54 remaining and begin to pull away.
The Blue Jays were led by McDermott, who had 18 points to lead all scorers, with Ashford and Jahenns Manigat chipping in with 13 apiece.
"I was really pleased with how hard we competed tonight. We still have some things that we need to work on, both offensively and defensively," Owls head coach Tony Ingle said after the game. "Seven games in 14 days is a tough chore, but we fought through it, and now we can go and take a closer look at the things that we need to clean up."
Ingle’s squad had a quick start out of the gate, taking an early, 11-4, lead, on the strength of strong play from LaDaris Green, who had a three-pointer, a transition layup and a jumper to score the first seven points of the game for the Owls, paired with solid defense that forced five Creighton turnovers over the first 4:30 and help them jump out to the early advantage.
The squad would hang with the Blue Jays, who were coming off of a 91-88 loss to Iowa State on Nov. 21, for a good portion of the first half, leading, 13-12, with 10:13 left after a nifty turnaround, one-handed jumper by Markeith Cummings allowed the Owls to re-take the lead, albeit briefly. With 7:00 left, they trailed by just two points, 17-15, when a pair of threes by Ashford, sandwiching a Dixon missed shot from outside, and a layup by Wayne Runnells gave the Blue Jays their first double-digit advantage of the evening.
The lead grew to as many as 15 in the first half, but the Owls kept on fighting, answering with two baskets, one on a layup by Cummings and another on a jumper by Dixon to cut the Creighton lead to 11 before ultimately entering the locker room with a 12-point deficit.
Aaron Anderson led the Owls on the glass with nine rebounds. His most impressive work, however, may have been defensively, as he and frontcourt mate freshman Andrew Osemhen teamed up to limit Creighton’s Kenny Lawson, Jr., the Missouri Valley Conference’s Preseason Player of the Year, to just seven points and one rebound on the evening.
After playing just three minutes due to injury on Wednesday evening, Green was back to his usual self on Friday, logging 29 minutes and contributing 15 points and seven rebounds.
The announced attendance of 14,313 was the record for a Kennesaw State Owls men’s basketball game, easily breaking the mark of 11,237 that was set on Wednesday evening at Iowa State.
With the loss, the Owls finish the Global Sports Hy-Vee Challenge at 0-4. Creighton finishes with a 3-1 mark after Friday night’s win. Iowa State clinched the title with their win over the Owls on Wednesday evening, finishing off a 4-0 run in the five-team event. Northern Arizona was 2-2, and Alabama State 1-3.
The Owls have a 15-day period of time before their next game, when they travel to the Midwest once again to take on Southern Illinois Edwardsville. The game will be the last one before they have their first Atlantic Sun Conference tests, as they travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Lipscomb and Belmont the following weekend.
