By: KSU Sports Information
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Postgame Notes
KENNESAW, Ga. – Aaron Anderson and Spencer Dixon scored 17 points apiece, but the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles took advantage of several second-half droughts on their way to defeating the Kennesaw State Owls, 62-55, on Wednesday evening at the KSU Convocation Center. The loss was the third straight for the Owls.
The Owls (3-12, 0-4 Atlantic Sun Conference) had most of the momentum heading into halftime, scoring the last five points of a first half capped by a Delbert Love three-point bank-shot that dropped in as time expired. They would use Love and Dixon threes in the first two minutes of the second half to jump out to a six-point lead, their largest of the game, 33-27 with 18:00 remaining in the contest. It would be short-lived, however as nine straight points by the Eagles (6-8, 2-2 A-Sun) over the next two minutes snatched the lead away from the Owls, which they would not gain back.
Kennesaw State would tie the game on two more occasions, but trailed for the last 13:03 of the game despite holding Florida Gulf Coast to 9-for-22 shooting in the second half.
“This game came down to Florida Gulf Coast making tough plays down the stretch, and a lot of our mistakes were self-inflicted,” Owls head coach Lewis Preston said. “I think we had two great opportunities this week that just weren’t able to capitalize on, but we need to move forward and be ready to play two tough conference games later this week.”
The Owls would trail by as many as eight points in the second half, but were in position to try and pull out their first A-Sun victory of the Lewis Preston era in the waning minutes. After the Eagles’ Bernard Thompson nailed a three to make it a, 54-48, contest with 6:09 to go, Florida Gulf Coast would open the door for the Owls, not scoring for the next five minutes while missing a pair of shots and committing four of their 13 turnovers. During that timeframe, the Owls would go just 1-for-4 from the field and 1-for-3 from the free throw line while turning the ball over twice in their own right.
The struggles from the free throw line for the Owls were indicative of how their evening went, as they were just 7-for-13 from the charity stripe overall.
“Our free throw numbers told us two things, first, 7-for-13 just isn’t good enough, but the fact that we only took 13 free throws, especially at home, shows that we weren’t aggressive enough when it came to attacking the rim, we were settling for jump shots too many times,” Preston commented. “That’s something we’ll have to address as we prepare for this weekend.”
The three by Thompson, who would lead all scorers on the evening with 22 points, 18 of which came in the second half, would turn out to be the last field goal of the game for the Eagles, from they made eight straight free throws down the stretch to seal it.
The Owls would twice cut the margin down to five in the final minute, first on a turnaround layup by Anderson off a nice pass from Love out of a double team, and finally thanks to a pair of free throws from Dawson with 32 seconds left, but that was as close as the Owls would come the rest of the way.
The basket for Anderson was part of a 7-for-9 shooting performance for the junior, who also had a game-high seven rebounds.
“I haven’t been around a guy who plays the game the way that Aaron does,” Preston remarked. “He plays hard, goes at it hard, and does everything we ask of him. The great part is, he’s still going to get better. ”
Both teams shot well under 50 percent from the field despite starting out relatively hot, the Owls making six of their first 10 shots while the Eagles started out 5-for-7. There were a total of five ties and five lead changes in the first 20 minutes of play, with the Owls, 14-9, advantage with 11:15 to go in the half being the biggest margin between the two squads.
Dixon and Anderson were joined in double figures by Love, who had 12 points and had a team-high five assists. The Owls Markeith Cummings, who came into the contest leading the A-Sun with 17.2 points per game, shot just 2-for-7 from the floor for five total points, but grabbed six rebounds and handed out four assists of his own.
The Eagles’ Eddie Murray joined Thompson as the only other Eagle in double figures, scoring 12 points. Brett Comer scored just three points but dished out a game-high eight assists. The trio were instrumental in ending the Owls four-game winning streak over the Eagles and leading their team to victory for the first time ever at the KSU Convocation Center.
Wednesday marked the end of a quick two-game home stand the Black and Gold, who play their next four games on the road, starting on Saturday evening at USC Upstate. Tip-off against the Spartans is slated for 2:00 p.m.
