By: by Scott Lipsky
Box Score Notes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Kennesaw State Owls battled on Thursday night, coming to within five points of the lead at one point in the second half, but ended up succumbing to the Belmont Bruins, 87-60, on Thursday night at the Curb Event Center in their Atlantic Sun Conference opener. Freshman Brandon Dawson led the way for the Owls with 12 points, one of four teammates to score in double figures.
“I thought our guys battled back well after we dug ourselves a hole at the outset of the game,” Ingle said. “We were able to compose ourselves and get back in it and were right there in the second half. The bottom line is that we got beat by a darn good basketball team, and hopefully we can learn from it and get ready for Lipscomb.”
The game was one of large runs by both teams, and the Owls (2-7, 0-1 A-Sun) made their major push several minutes into the second half. Trailing, 39-29, at halftime, the Black and Gold quickly fell behind by 16 in the second frame before going on a 12-1 run over 2:24 to make it a 46-41 game. The rally began when LaDaris Green was able to reach out and grab an offensive rebound right near the foul line before it hit the floor off of a missed jump shot by Spencer Dixon and laid it back in to make it 45-31. After a defensive stop on the other end, Dixon was able to move the offense in transition, driving into the lane and hitting a trailing Matt Heramb, who was making his 2010-11 debut on Thursday evening, to cut the deficit to 12. Kelvin McConnell and Green would follow things up with three-pointers and Dawson would make a short jumper quickly after to cut the lead to five.
That was as close as it would get though. A combination of the Bruins prowess inside and the end of the Owls hot shooting for the night would seal their fate. Seeing their once commanding lead dwindle down to the mid-single digits, Belmont (7-2, 2-0 A-Sun) dug in, extending the lead to 59-50 with 9:47 left before embarking on an 18-2 run over the next 4:31 to effectively put the game away, a stretch in which the Owls missed seven consecutive shots.
A lot of the Owls troubles began when Green, who finished with seven points and five rebounds, was called for his fourth foul with 16:16 remaining in the game. It was towards that point in the game when the Bruins began to pound it into the interior. A seminal point of Belmont’s game-clinching run in the second half came with them up, 64-50, with 8:11 left in the game. After the Owls Nick Turner missed a pair of free throws, the Bruins came back down the court and reserve J.J. Mann rolled to the basket with the ball and laid the ball up and in to make it a 16 point game.
Back on the other end, Scott Saunders, also a reserve who would finish the game as the leading scorer with 19 points, stuffed Dawson, who tried to layup the ball up to the right of the basket, for one of his four blocks on the night and scored on the other end to stretch the lead to 18. Saunders and Mann, who had 10 points, were the main reasons for the Owls allowing a season-high 47 bench points.
“After LaDaris was called for his fourth foul, that hurt our momentum a little bit, and we had to turn over our interior defense to our younger guys,” Ingle said. “They battled, and they definitely learned a lot having to defend against some excellent big men. It was a good experience for them.”
Belmont jumped out to a quick, 10-0 lead in the early going while the Owls struggled offensively, first scoring on an Aaron Anderson putback at the 15:36 mark. The Bruins, who entered the evening second in the A-Sun in three point field goal percentage and first in turnover margin, used their strengths early on to gain the early advantage, hitting a pair of threes to kick-off their scoring and forcing three Owl turnovers before committing one of their own.
Dawson definitely qualified as a bright spot for the Black and Gold on Thursday night, who have now dropped seven in a row after shooting just 33.3 percent from the field for the game (22-for-66). His 12 points led the team, making him the first Owl other than Markeith Cummings and Dixon to lead the team in scoring.
“I definitely feel more comfortable playing at the collegiate level now, and I owe a lot of that to my veteran teammates for helping me get adjusted,” Dawson said. “I’m ready to do whatever it takes to help this team win.”
McConnell (11 points), Dixon (10) and Heramb (10) joined Dawson in double figures scoring on the evening. Cummings led the way on the glass with nine rebounds.
The Owls stay in the Music City continues through the weekend, as they take on the Lipscomb Bisons on Saturday evening, with a slated start time of 8:15 p.m. CST.
