By: KSU Sports Information
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Photos Courtesy of Sam Roberts/Freeze Frame
CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Delbert Love’s hot hand led all scorers with 26 points on Wednesday evening, as the Kennesaw State Owls led midway through the second half but ultimately fell short against the Charlotte 49ers, 74-63, at Halton Arena.
Love, who was 10-for-19 from the field and 6-for-12 from three-point range, helped the Owls (3-16) keep pace with Charlotte (10-7), who trailed the Black and Gold, 34-33, at halftime, and first re-took the lead with 15:54 to go in the contest when a jump shot by Derrio Green made it 44-42.
That would quickly set off the Owls freshman on perhaps the most impressive run of the game, as the 49ers would pull ahead by five points with 13:33 to play, only to see Love single-handedly take the Owls on a 10-1 run over the next 2:29 to put them ahead, 54-50 with 11:04 to go. During that span, the Cleveland, Ohio, native made all four of his field goal attempts from the floor, including two of his six makes from three-point range, while the 49ers missed all four of theirs.
“We knew that in transition, it would be difficult for them to stop us, so when we got out and ran, Spencer was able to find me and I had some great open looks,” Love said. “Towards the end of the game, I was still feeling good, the shots just stopped falling, that’s the way basketball is sometimes. They defended me a little differently, put some new guys on me, but it just came down to not getting the bounces. The important thing is the final result, which wasn’t what any of us were looking for.”
It was right after Love’s jumper put them ahead by four that the Owls went cold, going the next 7:30 without scoring. The 49ers would reel off 11 straight points, with a second-chance layup by E. Victor Nickerson putting the home team out in front for good with 8:54 to go.
Down by seven with 3:24 to go, Spencer Dixon would try to spark an Owls comeback when he drained a three from the right wing to make it a, 61-57, contest, but that was as closest as Kennesaw State would come the rest of the way. DeMario Mayfield would counter with a layup on the next possession for two of his 25 points on the evening, and Charlotte would head to the line for 18 free throws over the last 2:47, connecting on 11 of them to seal the Owls fate in a game that saw them commit just 10 turnovers.
While the second half would be marked by big runs by both teams, the first half was anything but, with the score being tied on five occasions and the lead changing hands four times. Lewis Preston’s squad hounded the boards during the first 20 minutes, out-glassing the 49ers, 18-14, including five offensive rebounds that turned into 10 second chance points. Four of those points came from Aaron Anderson, who pulled down a total of 17 boards in the game, matching his season and career high. The Black and Gold surrendered a 25-14 rebounding margin in the second half, however.
“When I go back and look at that this game, the thing that sticks out to me is that we were out-rebounded by 11 in the second half, and that was the difference in the game,” Preston said. “I could focus on Delbert’s individual performance, but I think as a whole our team stepped it up tonight. In the end, there were some good shots we took that just didn’t fall, and that hurt us, but I told our team afterwards, if we play the rest of the way like we did tonight, we’re going to win our fair share of games, especially since eight of our last 12 games are at home.”
Joining Love in double figures was Markeith Cummings, who had 14 points to go along with a team-high four assists, and Dixon, who had 13 points and a game-high four steals. Cummings’ second field goal of the night was a special one, as it was the 500
th of his career, becoming just the fourth Owl in history to reach that milestone.
Mayfield's 25 points for the 49ers were complemented by 13 apiece from Javarris Barnett and Chris Braswell. Barnett added a team-high nine rebounds for the home squad.
After playing 15 of their first 19 games of the 2011-12 campaign on the road, the Owls will play eight of their last 12 at the KSU Convocation Center, beginning on Saturday evening, when they host the Jacksonville Dolphins at 7:00 p.m.
