By: by Scott Lipsky
Listen Live Watch Live
Live Stats Game Notes
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls begin their final home stand of the 2010-11 season on Thursday evening when they host the Lipscomb Bisons at 7:30 p.m. at the KSU Convocation Center.
For the Owls (8-20, 6-12 Atlantic Sun Conference), the match-up is their second to last of the regular season, and it couldn’t have any bigger implications. Heading into Thursday evening, the Black and Gold sit in a tie for seventh with Campbell in the A-Sun standings and one full game ahead of Stetson for the eighth and final spot in the A-Sun Tournament, which will be held Mar. 2-5 at Mercer. A win for the Owls in either of their last two games or one more Stetson loss will clinch a spot for them in the conference’s postseason tournament for the second straight year, in just two years of being eligible. The Black and Gold take on Belmont on Saturday evening to close out the regular season, while Stetson hosts North Florida on Thursday evening and Jacksonville on Saturday.
It will be critical for the Black and Gold to have their two marquee players, sophomores Markeith Cummings and LaDaris Green, playing at a high level on Thursday night. Cummings, the A-Sun’s leading scorer at 18.7 points per game, scored 27 points on Sunday at North Florida while Green, the league’s leading rebounder at 8.5 boards per game, had his seventh consecutive double-double on Sunday in the Owls disappointing, 90-88 triple-overtime loss.
Most encouraging for head coach Tony Ingle’s squad of late has been the resurgence of senior forward Matt Heramb. Heramb scored an Owls career high 16 points to go along with nine rebounds on Sunday in 47 minutes of play, helping to give the Black and Gold some much needed support from their reserves. Overall, the subs scored 30 points, a season-high for the squad.
Lipscomb (16-11, 11-7 A-Sun) is locked into either the fourth or fifth seed in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament, and currently sit in fourth place, one game in front of Mercer. They are most recently coming off of a, 102-95, double-overtime loss to East Tennessee State on Feb. 19.
The Bisons are led by senior forward Adnan Hodzic, who currently sits in second place behind Markeith Cummings for second place in the A-Sun in scoring. He teams up with fellow senior, guard Josh Slater, to make the highest scoring duo in the conference at 34.4 points per contest. Slater is also a terrific distributor of the ball, as he is currently third in the A-Sun averaging 4.7 assists per game.
Lipscomb leads the all-time series, 6-5, with a 5-5 tie between the two squads in the regular season. The Owls won their A-Sun quarterfinal match-up against the Bisons on Mar. 3 of last season.
The Owls are 4-1 against the Bisons at the KSU Convocation Center, most recently defeating them, 97-91 on Dec. 5, 2009. The Owls shot 76 percent (19-for-25) from three point range in that game, including a perfect 7-for-7 from behind the arc by Kelvin McConnell both Division I program records for the Black and Gold. Cummings also had a career-high 10 assists in that game.
When senior captain Kelvin McConnell takes to the floor on Thursday night, he will become the all-time leader in games played for the Kennesaw State Owls with 121. He is currently tied with former Owls greats Columbus Ballard (1990-94) and Herman Smith (1986-90).
Thursday night’s game can be heard on Talk 920 AM and www.talk920.com, with play-by-play voice Craig Corbin and color analyst and Owls great Scott Webb calling the action. The Atlantic Sun Conference’s subscription video streaming service, Asun.tv, will carry the game live, with Dave Albert calling the play-by-play.
Thursday night is “Give a Shirt About KSU” night, when all students who bring a t-shirt from another college can trade it in for a Kennesaw State Owls t-shirt.
Tickets for Thursday night’s game are 10 dollars for adults and six dollars for youth in eighth grade or younger. Admission to all KSU athletic events are free for KSU students with a valid student ID.
