By: by Scott Lipsky
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KENNESAW, Ga. – Markeith Cummings scored a season-high 31 points on Monday night, lifting the Kennesaw State Owls to a, 78-64, win over the Campbell Camels at the KSU Convocation Center.
The win snaps a five-game slide for Kennesaw State (6-17, 4-9 A-Sun), who move to within a half-game of Stetson and Campell (11-13, 5-9 A-Sun) for the eighth and final spot in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
“We came out flat, but the guys battled back at the end of the first half to get to halftime even. In the second half, we played really well,” Owls head coach Tony Ingle said. “We passed the ball well, we played great defense, and I just can’t say enough about my players tonight. Kelvin hit big threes, and Markeith was a man inside. We had that “Eye of the Tiger” mentality tonight and we were ready to play.”
Buoyed by a 7-0 run that included a thunderous one-handed dunk by Cummings to end the first half and go to the locker room with the score tied at 34, the Black and Gold battled for much of the second half with Campbell, enduring four ties and 11 lead changes.
The Owls would take the lead for the first time with 18:26 remaining in the game, when Cummings, who also led all players with six assists, played the role of facilitator. Dribbling in the paint, the sophomore was able to find teammate Aaron Anderson underneath the rim, slipping him a crisp pass, as Anderson finished it give the Owls a, 38-36, advantage.
Both teams would go back and forth for the next several minutes, trading the lead nine times over the next 6:56. Finally, with 10:26 remaining in the game, Owls senior captain Kelvin McConnell would make the shot that would prove to be the game winner. Already having made both of his three-point attempts on the evening, McConnell found himself open on the left wing following a Cummings steal, and, upon receiving the pass, calmly drained his third long distance jumper of the game, putting the Owls up, 52-50, a lead they would not give back for the rest of the game.
The three also had special meaning for McConnell, who finished the night with 12 points, as it was his 200th three-point basket of his career with the Owls, joining Ronell Wooten as the only other player accomplish that feat in program history.
Still up just 58-55 with 7:54 left in the contest, the Black and Gold began to pull away, going on an 8-1 run on the strength of four points apiece by Cummings and Matt Heramb, who was one of four Owls to finish the night in double figures, tying his career high with the Owls with 11 points on the night.
Campbell, who was led by Junard Hartley’s 16 points with Eric Griffin adding 15, would not get closer than eight points the rest of the way. Cummings seemed to supply the knockout punch with 2:31 remaining, when he made an impressive layup in traffic, powering the ball into the basket as he was fouled, converting the three-point to put the Owls up by 11 at that point.
LaDaris Green recorded his sixth double-double of the season for the Black and Gold, posting 10 points and 13 rebounds. The performance was his second straight double-double, and his four blocks on the evening gave him his eighth game this season with three or more blocks, tying the Owls Division I program record that he set last season as a freshman.
For Cummings, the 31 point performance was the third game of his career in which he scored 30 or more points, and one shy of his career high of 32, set against Belmont on Dec. 3 of last season.
The game was the final one in the regular season between the two squads as conference rivals, as Campbell will move to the Big South Conference starting with the 2011-12 season. Monday night’s loss was the third straight for the Camels, who had won six in a row against the Owls coming into the contest.
The Black and Gold will try and make it two wins in a row on Thursday night, when they host Florida Gulf Coast at 7:30 p.m.
