By: KSU Sports Information
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Postgame Notes
KENNESAW, Ga. – Markeith Cummings’ 17 points led four Owls in double figures on Monday evening, but a late rally wasn’t enough to overcome an, 11-point halftime deficit, as Kennesaw State fell to the Stetson Hatters, 66-62, at the KSU Convocation Center.
The Owls (3-11, 0-3 Atlantic Sun Conference), who were playing their first home game since Nov. 26, had an opportunity to steal the game late after trailing for the entire second half, cutting a nine-point Stetson (5-8, 2-1 A-Sun) lead with 1:22 left down to five with 13 seconds to go on a Markeith Cummings put-back layup. After an Owls timeout, Spencer Dixon would steal the Hatters’ inbounds pass and quickly launch a three-point attempt from the left corner, but the shot attempt hit the front rim and was grabbed by Stetson’s Chris Perez.
Perez would miss a pair of free throws and the Owls would move quickly up the court, with Cummings eventually getting to the free throw line and hitting a pair to make it a, 65-62, game with two second to play. They would quickly foul Aaron Graham, who made his second of two attempts from the charity stripe for his 15
th point of the evening to seal the Owls fate.
“I give Stetson a lot of credit tonight, they did a great job of hanging on and they played the way they know how to play,” Owls head coach Lewis Preston said. “We need to do a better job rebounding, and we need to get more production out of our reserves. We had our chances tonight, and I’m disappointed we didn’t get this win, as I thought it was there for us several times this evening, but we need to build from this and come back strong on Wednesday against Florida Gulf Coast.”
Early in the game, it didn’t look like the Owls would have to try to pull-off come-from-behind heroics for their first conference win of the season. Tied at 6 just over five minutes into the contest, the Black and Gold embarked on a, 9-0, run, with two of the baskets coming thanks to crowd-pleasing alley-oops from Dixon to Cummings, the last of which made it, 15-6, Owls with 10:44 to play. The Hatters would go 0-for-3 and commit two of their 13 turnovers during that run, which lasted 3:59, but would quickly find their rhythm as the Owls would collectively go cold for the rest of the half.
Still leading, 19-13, with 7:54 left in the half, the Owls would surrender a, 19-2, run to the Hatters, going 1-for-6 from the field and committing four turnovers, while Stetson would five of their eight attempts during that period of time, four of their makes coming from beyond the three-point arc. The hot shooting by the visitors made it harder for the Owls to produce the exciting, up-tempo offense they had been able to manufacture during the early stages of the game.
“It wasn’t so much that we were doing anything different offensively, but it’s hard to get easy lobs in transition when we’re allowing shots to fall on the other end,” said Dixon, who also found Aaron Anderson for an alley-oop dunk midway through the first half. “We got a little too comfortable out there after our fast start, and let them get back into the game, and they took advantage of that.”
Trailing, 32-21, at the half, the Owls clawed their way back into the game, scoring the first six points of the second half and cutting the margin down to 41-39 thanks to a Dixon three with 11:59 to go, part of their 16-for-29 shooting performance after the break. They would then cut the deficit to three points with 7:13 left, but as always seemed to be the case on Monday evening, Stetson would answer, with a layup by Perez, who led all scorers with 24 points, and a three by Graham, who had 15, pushing the lead back up to eight.
In the end, it would be the Hatters would get their first win over the Owls in their last five tries.
“When you lose by four points, and you see some of the stats we had tonight, like the fact that we only forced 13 turnovers, or that they shot 47 percent from three-point range, or the fact that our bench was shut out 12-0, you can’t help but think that we missed some great opportunities,” Preston added.
Dixon added 15 points for the Owls, and was joined in double-figures by Anderson, who had 12 points to go along with a team-high nine rebounds, and Delbert Love, who scored 10 points.
The Owls return to their home court at the KSU Convocation Center on Wednesday evening when they face the Florida Gulf Eagles at 7 p.m.
