By: by Mark Toma
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Kennesaw State, who is moving closer to clinching a berth in the Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, will battle Campbell tonight at the John W. Pope Convocation Center as they look to snap their two-game slide.
The Owls (12-14, 7-8 A-Sun) recently saw their six-game winning streak come to an end when they were defeated last week by USC Upstate at the KSU Convocation Center. The Owls dropped their second straight game when they were knocked off by ETSU last Friday night in Johnson City, Tenn.
Kennesaw State, who has five games remaining in the regular season, currently stands in seventh place in the conference. The Owls have a one-half game lead over the current eighth-place team North Florida and lead the ninth place Stetson Hatters by four games with two games in-hand as well as the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Camels (15-9, 10-5 A-Sun) are among the five teams that are within one game of the lead in the conference. Campbell sits comfortably in third place, a half game behind both Jacksonville and Belmont, who are tied for first place and a half game ahead of Lipscomb and ETSU, who are in a tie for third place.
The game features two of the top players in the league in redshirt freshman Markeith Cummings and senior Jonathan Rodriguez. Both players are averaging over 17 points per game this season while winning multiple A-Sun Player-of-the-Week awards.
The 6-foot-5-inch Rodriguez, who averages 17.9 points per game, was named the A-Sun Player of the Week for the third time this season and the fifth time in his career while Cummings is a two-time Player of the Week and is the top scoring freshman in the conference and is among the top four freshman scorers in the nation.
Rodriguez, a three-time all-conference selection, is putting the wraps on a stellar career in which the Camels all-time leading scorer and rebounder became the second player in A-Sun history to have 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in his career.
The Camels have had the better of the Owls in the eight previous meetings between the teams. Kennesaw State won the first-ever meeting between the teams during the 2005-06 season, but since then Campbell has won six of the last seven meetings including the last four encounters.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and can be heard live on 920 am WGKA as well as online at www.920WGKA.com. Jason Hanes, play-by-play and Scott Webb, color analyst will call the action beginning with the Peachtree Orthopedic Clinic Pregame Show beginning at 6:30 p.m.
