By: KSU Sports Information
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Postgame Notes
KENNESAW, Ga. – Aaron Anderson scored 17 points and had 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season, but a pair of 8-0 runs by the Jacksonville Dolphins midway through the second half would capsize the Kennesaw State Owls, 66-50, in an Atlantic Sun Conference match-up on Saturday evening at the KSU Convocation Center.
The Owls (3-17, 0-8 A-Sun) trailed for the last 18:31 in the game, and were behind, 30-20 at halftime, despite eight points and six rebounds from Anderson, who had 17 rebounds at Charlotte on Wednesday. They pulled to within 32-24 in the early stages of the second half, but the Dolphins (4-15, 2-6 A-Sun) would quickly embark on a, 13-2, run, leading, 45-26, with 12:11 left in the contest. Kennesaw State would get the deficit back down to 13 points on two occasions the rest of the way, but they were just 9-for-20 in the second half and could not sustain a run long enough to make a serious push.
“The game plan going into tonight was very simple tonight, to take away their transition game, to take away their second chance points and to limit my turnovers,” Owls head coach Lewis Preston said. “We did a pretty good job with our transition defense, since they only had six fast break points, but we gave up 21 points off of turnovers and 19 second chance points, so when 40 out of the 66 points you give up are ones that come during situations that you can control, it’s going to be very tough to win.”
Anderson, who was 6-for-8 from the floor on the evening and was coming off of a 17-rebound performance on Wednesday evening, made his presence felt early in the contest. Even though he did not score his first points until the middle of the first half and had just two rebounds during the first seven minutes, he showed off his versatility with a nice bounce pass in the paint to a cutting Spencer Dixon for the Owls second basket of the game.
Despite the loss, which the eighth in a row for the Owls, Anderson is still confident that he and his teammates have the confidence to bounce back from the recent rough stretch.
“We had a good game plan coming in tonight, the coaches did a good job of letting us know what to expect, it just didn’t go as we wanted it to,” Anderson said. “Every game is a new game for us, and we realize that, we know that there is still a lot at stake. Our goal is to make the A-Sun Tournament, and we still have a good chance of doing that, we’re not going to give up.”
Trailing, 57-35, with just over six minutes to play, the Black and Gold made one final stand, going on an 8-0 run that included seven points by Markeith Cummings, who had 16 points on the night to join Anderson in double figures. Cummings continually put pressure on the Dolphins during that stretch, getting to the foul line on three occasions and contributing to the Owls edge in free throw attempts on the night, 30-24.
It would be as close as the squad would be able to come that late in the game, however. Jacksonville responded to the Owls late surge with seven unanswered points of their own, stretching the margin to 65-45 with 1:45 to play.
Jacksonville, who out-rebounded the Owls, 38-25, in the contest, were led by Delwan Graham, who had 19 of JU’s 24 bench points on the evening. Aloys Cabell added 16 for the Dolphins, who have now won two games in a row after dropping 13 straight.
The Owls, who were 16-for-39 from the floor for evening and just 1-for-10 from three-point range on Saturday evening, play their second straight home game on Monday evening when they host the North Florida Ospreys at 7:00 p.m.
