By: by Scott Lipsky
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DeLAND, Fla. – The Kennesaw State Owls take their traveling Sunshine State road show from the gulf to the Space Coast, hoping to use the momentum gained from their win Friday evening in a Sunday matinee against the Stetson Hatters. Tip-off at the Edmunds Center is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
Their first of just three day games during the regular season, Owls head coach Tony Ingle understands that while having to play in the afternoon may change up the team’s routine a little bit, it can also be beneficial for them to experience this type of situation down the road.
“Day games are definitely an adjustment for us, since we essentially are having to pack practice and preparation into one session the night before the game,” Ingle said on Saturday. “It’s definitely different, you wake up, eat your meal, and before you know it you’re at the gym ready to go. That’s a good thing for our guys to experience, though, since that’s the type of scenario a team often faces in a tournament situation. I’m confident that our guys will be ready and that we’ll be able to take our positive play with us into Sunday.”
The Owls (4-12, 2-4 A-Sun) will be trying to sweep the Florida Gulf Coast-Stetson trip for the second straight season. They will also be hoping that this trip serves as the impetus for an extended run of success. Last season, the Black and Gold made the trip south mired in a six-game slide, and left the winners of two in a row in what would become a six-game winning streak.
In order to duplicate that kind of run from last season, the Owls will want to continue to shoot with the effectiveness that they have been as of late. In three of their last four game, they have shot over 50 percent from the field, 50.9 percent, to be exact, leading to a pair of wins. Friday night’s win also featured 10 three-point baskets by the Owls, including six by Kelvin McConnell, to tie their season-high, a sharp contrast to the 1-11 performance from beyond the arc that they endured in their, 65-52, loss to Campbell in the previous game.
These two games were very good to Owls sophomore Markeith Cummings last season. Cummings, who scored 21 points to help the Owls win over the Eagles on Friday evening, followed his 32-point performance against FGCU last season with a 19 point, 10 rebound showing against Stetson (6-11, 4-3 A-Sun) two days later, in the Owls, 75-59, win. His success against the Hatters continued at home two weeks later, scoring 18 points to help his team cap off their six-game winning streak.
Stetson is coming off a, 79-72, win over Mercer on Friday night, in a game that saw Luis Jacobo (18 points), Ridge Graham (16) and Joel Naburgs (15) all score in double figures, Stetson’s fourth game of the season in which they shot 53 percent from the field or better.
Their leading scorer is sophomore forward Ridge Graham (14.1 ppg), who scored 21 points to go along with 12 rebounds in their season-opening win over Wake Forest, on the way to sharing the A-Sun Player of the Week award with the Owls Spencer Dixon on Nov. 16.
The all-time series between the two clubs is tied, 5-5, with the Owls having won in DeLand in two out of their five tries.
Sunday’s game will be broadcast live on Talk 920 AM with Craig Corbin (play-by-play) and Scott Webb (color) calling all the action. Fans can also tune in on www.talk920.com. Stetson's subscription streaming service, Hatter Vision, will carry a live video stream of the game, which will be simulcast on A-Sun.tv, the conference's subscription service. Live stats will also be available.
