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ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The heat and temperature of the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center was matched by the intensity of the Kennesaw State-South Carolina State men’s basketball game on Monday.
Playing in a hot and humid gym, the Owls (1-1) were able to outlast the host Bulldogs (1-1) and record a hard-fought 67-65 victory when
Markeith Cummings hit a jumper with :00.8 left on the clock.
“I am pleased with the total team effort. I think it all started with our starting five, getting us out to a good start early,” Kennesaw State head coach Lewis Preston said. “I told them that at the end of the day we are going to have to withstand some punches. Even more importantly, we were going to have to face some adversity. I thought we did a great job of handling both of those tonight.”
In a back-and-forth second half that had 10 lead changes and was tied six times, Cummings scored inside with 1:25 remaining and sophomore guard
Delbert Love made one of two free throws with :28 remaining to tie the game at 57-57. Both teams had a final chance to win in regulation, but Love’s desperation 3-point shot at the buzzer fell short.
During the overtime period, Cummings gave the Owls the early lead, hitting a pair of free throws, putting Kennesaw State ahead, 59-57. The lead grew to five points at 64-59 with 2:17 remaining when freshman guard
Yonel Brown hit one of two free throws.
The Bulldogs rallied back to tie the score at 65-65 on a jumper by Matthew Hezekiah with :54 remaining. The Owls came back down court, ran their offense and freshman guard
Myles Hamilton had an open look for a 3-point shot. Hamilton’s shot was off the mark and Love came up with a big offensive rebound.
Kennesaw State immediately called a timeout to set up for a winning shot with :29 remaining. The Owls inbounded the ball, eventually getting it to Cummings left of the basket where he took the game-winning shot with a defender lunging at him.
“I thought we came out and played hard,” Cummings said. “We kind of let them back in the game midway through the first half. We just had to come out in the second half and play harder. The shot was supposed to go to Del (Delbert Love) but Del passed it back to me and it just went in.”
Cummings’ winning basket was the first of his career and allowed the Owls to avenge a double-overtime 104-98 loss at the KSU Convocation Center a year ago. The program’s No. 3 all-time leading scorer finished with a team-high 18 points.
Love added 16 points, four assists and three rebounds while Anderson produced his second double-double of the season after totaling 12 points and 11 rebounds.
South Carolina State, which also had three players finish in double figures, was led by Adama Adams, who scored a game-high 26 points.
Kennesaw State opened with the first points of the game, eventually building a game-high 13-point lead at 18-5 on a layup by Anderson with 11:53 left in the half. However, South Carolina State methodically chipped away at the lead and cut the deficit to 32-27 at the half.
The Bulldogs opened the second half with a 10-1 run and built their biggest lead of the game at 37-33 three minutes into the final period.
Kennesaw State returns to action on Friday when it opens play in the Comfort Suites Invitational hosted by Eastern Kentucky in Richmond. The Owls will face the host Colonels at 7 p.m. The game can be heard live on ksuowls.com with Nathan McCreary handling the play-by-play.
NOTES: Senior forward Aaron Anderson reached a career milestone as his 12 points helped him go over 500 points…He entered the game with 494 points and increased that total to 506…Anderson also moved into third place in career rebounds during Kennesaw State’s Division I era. His 11 rebounds gave him 496 for his career and moved him past Ronnell Wooten (2005-08), who concluded his time as an Owl with 488.
Kennesaw State University is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
