By: KSU Sports Information
Box Score
Postgame Notes
LAS VEGAS- Delbert Love led three Kennesaw State Owls in double figures with 17 points on Friday afternoon, helping his squad recover from a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, 69-65, in their fourth and final game in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic.
The Owls (3-9) snapped a seven-game slide with the victory over the Islanders (1-10), who have now lost eight in a row. Kennesaw State’s lead would grow to as many as five points on two occasions, with Lewis Preston’s squad going 11-for-12 from the free throw line over the last 2:40 to seal the outcome. The solid effort from the line was in-step with their second half shooting, which was a much-improved 11-for-21 from the field.
"It was a tail of two halves. I have to give a lot of credit to Texas A&M Corpus Christi, they came out in the first half with a lot of energy and did what they needed to do put us behind quickly," Owls head coach Lewis Preston said. "Over the first 20 minutes, we really were playing one-on-one and didn't come together as a team like we needed to until after halftime. There was no one particular person who earned this win in the second half, it was a team effort. I'm really glad that our guys will have a feeling of success under their belts as we prepare for next game at Ohio next week."
Trailing, 35-21, at halftime, after shooting just 7-for-32 over the first 20 minutes of play, Kennesaw State was still behind, 41-28, with 16:14 left in the contest when they embarked on a 14-0 run over the next 4:16. Love and Mirza Sabic would each score five points during the run, with Sabic draining a three-point basket from the left wing to give the Owls a, 42-41, lead with 11:58 to go, their first advantage of the game.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi would regain the lead for the next several minutes, but the Owls kept their deficit to within four points throughout, and finally re-gained the lead that they would never relinquish with 5:51 remaining, when a Brandon Dawson layup and subsequent free throw to complete a three-point play gave the Black and Gold a, 55-53, lead.
Spencer Dixon scored (16 points) and Aaron Anderson (13) joined Love in double figures, with Anderson’s 17 rebounds marking a career-high for the junior, who recorded his fourth double-double of the season in the Owls win. The come-from-behind win after trailing by 14 points at the half is largest deficit the Owls have faced at halftime in a win since they joined NCAA Division I in 2005.
"We could see at halftime that Coach wasn't too pleased that we were down, and there was just this vibe among all of us that it was time to step up, we didn't want to end this trip empty-handed," Dixon said. "It was good that it was a group of us that stepped up and as a team we were able to accomplish a nice comeback like this."
For a little while, it looked like Friday's contest was going the way of the first four games of their road trip, which saw them travel through three different time zones and a total of 5,189 miles. Trailing, 28-29, with 2:37 left in the first half, the Islanders would score seven straight unanswered points, capped off by a Myron Dempsey layup, his seventh basket in seven attempts to stretch the Owls deficit to 35-19 with just 30 seconds left in the half.
The Black and Gold would receive a slight energy boost as the half wound down, with Anderson grabbing one of his seven offensive rebounds off of his own miss and tipped the ball through the hoop as time expired to make it a 14-point halftime deficit.
That would be a sign of things to come for the junior, who made all three of his shot attempts in the second half while being an imposing force on both ends of the floor. During a critical juncture in the second half, with the Owls still down, 41-37 with 13:22 left to go in the contest, Anderson would grab three rebounds and record a steal in just over a minute, help setting the stage for five Owls points that would help them gain the lead for the first time.
The leading scorers for both teams heading into the contest, the Owls Markeith Cummings and Terence Jones of the Owls, both struggled mightily throughout the game. Cummings was 0-for-6 from the floor in 23 minutes of play, scoring all three of his points from the free throw line. Jones, for his part, scored 10 points but on 2-for-18 shooting.
Sabic led the Owls reserves with eight points, who outscored the Islanders' reserves, 16-10 in the game. The bench had scored a total of 19 points in the last three games combined, by comparison.
"One of the things you can lose sight of is how effective your bench is and how much they can help win games with what they provide, and our bench outscoring theirs, that's a huge step forward for us," Preston remarked. "Romain Henry, Nick Turner, Brandon Dawson and Mirza Sabic, I thought they all played great today and helped us out tremendously. When we weren't getting what usually get from Markeith, we needed other people to step up, and that happened today."
The Islanders were led in the game by Myron Dempsey, who led all scorers in the contest with 20 points on 10-for-11 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds.
The Owls return to action on Friday, Dec. 30, when they visit the Ohio Bobcats.
