By: by Scott Lipsky
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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls are hoping that a match-up with their in-state rivals will be just the cure for their two-game slide, as they host the Mercer Bears on Tuesday evening at the KSU Convocation Center at 7:30 p.m.
Following a game on Saturday evening against Jacksonville in which they shot just 5-for-25 in the first half and trailed 30-5 to start the evening, the Owls (5-14, 3-6 A-Sun) plan to put their early struggles aside and focus on their second half performance, one in which they went 15-for-31 from the field and were outscored just 43-42, only the sixth time this season in which they scored 40 or more in a half of play.
“Our guys are focused on building on how they performed in the second half on Saturday night,” Owls head coach Tony Ingle said. “That said, we need to make sure that we come out and are ready to play an entire game. Mercer is a competitive team, they’ve had some good wins in conference play, and despite their record, they have taken some teams right down to the wire. They’re our rivals and we’re in for a good battle.”
Indeed, while the Bears (6-14, 3-6 A-Sun) have a similar record to the Owls, and are coming off of a, 74-64, loss to North Florida on Saturday night, they did beat Jacksonville, 70-68, in overtime on Thursday night, and have played teams such as Charlotte, Georgia and Georgia Tech close. In conference, they took Campbell to overtime before falling and dropped a close, 62-61, decision to East Tennessee State at the beginning of January.
While they will be without leading scorer Jeff Smith due to injury, the Bears do have other weapons, most notably forward Brian Mills, one of four seniors on the roster, who is currently averaging 14.3 points per contest. He can be an explosive scorer, most recently having 24 points in the Bears win over Jacksonville, to go along with a 30-point performance in their win over USC Upstate on Jan. 5. His 5.7 rebounds per game is second on the team to senior Brandon Moore, who has been pulling down 6.5 per game.
The Black and Gold will hope that sophomore Markeith Cummings continues to shine offensively while the rest of the team finds their stride. Cummings has scored 20 points in each of the team’s last two games to total seven games on the year in which he’s scored 20 or more points, the third most in the Atlantic Sun Conference to date.
The two squads are tied, 5-5, in their all-time series, which began when the Owls joined the A-Sun in 2005-06. The Black and Gold pulled even in the series with a home-and-home sweep last season that spanned just eight days. They won in Macon, 71-69, on Jan. 27 of last season on a Spencer Dixon layup with 36 seconds remaining, then pulled off an encore performance on Feb. 4 in front of their home crowd, winning, 66-63, in a game that was close throughout but the Owls led for the final 9:26.
Tuesday night is Code Blue Night at the KSU Convocation Center to promote Prostate Cancer Awareness. The Owls will be wearing Baby Blue jerseys in honor of the night, and the first 500 fans in attendance will receive Baby Blue Owls t-shirts, while all fans are encouraged to wear Baby Blue.
Adult tickets are $10, while youth in eighth grade or younger can gain admission for $6. Cancer survivors and their family members can receive discounted, $5 tickets to the game by contacting Pete Brooks at the American Cancer Society at (770)429-0089 ext. 247 or by e-mail at pete.brooks@cancer.org. Current KSU students receive free admission to all Owls athletic events.
Tuesday night’s game can be listened to live on Talk 920 AM and www.talk920.com, with play-by-play voice Craig Corbin and color analyst and Owls great Scott Webb calling all of the action. Fans can also watch the game live on the Atlantic Sun Conference’s subscription streaming service, A-Sun.TV. Live stats will also be available.
