By: by Mark Toma
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. – Markeith Cummings led a quartet of scorers in double figures with 18 points as the Owls won their fifth straight game with a, 73-62, win over the Stetson Hatters on Monday night at the KSU Convocation Center.
The Owls (11-12, 6-6 A-Sun) are in the midst of their longest winning streak in four years and have climbed back to the .500 mark in the conference, as they look for their first-ever berth in the A-Sun postseason tournament.
Kennesaw State jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game and never trailed. Cummings scored five of the first eight points for the Owls, who quickly built a double-figure lead when Jon-Michael Nickerson hit a short jumper with just under 13 minutes left in the half.
Shooting 50 percent in the first half, the Black and Gold would build its lead to as many as 15 points before taking a 32-19 lead into the locker room. The KSU defense held Stetson (5-16, 3-10 A-Sun) to just 31 percent shooting in the first half, including 1-for-10 from three-point range.
The second half saw much of the same dominance by the Owls as they kept the lead the entirety of the second half. Although the Hatters connected on 10 second half three-pointers, including four by the game’s leading scorer, A.J. Smith, they could not come within eight points of the Owls.
Matt Heramb had one of his best all-around games this season with nine points and a career-high, 12 rebounds. The redshirt junior also contributed four assists and a career-best three blocked shots in 27 minutes.
Kurtis Woods scored 16 points for the second straight game while Spencer Dixon added 12 points for the second consecutive game. Kelvin McConnell broke a streak of 14 games scoring in single digits with a 10-point night. Smith scored a game-high 22 points for Stetson while Joel Naburgs added 13 and Mark Lohuis dropped in 11 points.
The Owls held Stetson to 36.8 percent shooting for the game. Meanwhile, Kennesaw State shot 51.1 percent from the field, the fourth time in five games they have shot over 50 percent from the floor.
Kennesaw State out-rebounded Stetson by a 42-25 margin, their largest rebounding advantage of the year. In November, the Owls had a 15-rebound advantage over Mississippi Valley State in the finale of the Chicago Invitational challenge.
The Owls will be back in action on Thursday evening when they host rival Mercer at 7:30 p.m. at the KSU Convocation Center. The game can be heard live on 920 am WGKA as well as on-line at www.920WGKA.com. Craig Corbin, play-by-play, and Scott Webb, color analyst, will call the action beginning with the Peachtree Orthopedic Clinic Pregame Show beginning at 7:00 p.m.
