By: KSU Sports Information
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Postgame Notes
KENNESAW, Ga. – Spencer Dixon scored 20 points to lead three Kennesaw State Owls in double figures on Tuesday night, but his three-point attempt as time expired in overtime was off the mark, as they would fall, 76-75, to the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks at the KSU Convocation Center.
“A loss like this is very frustrating, a lot of it was sort of a microcosm of this season,” Owls head coach Lewis Preston said. “I thought we did a good job defending them in the first half, but you’re not going to win too many games when you let a team shoot 56 percent in the second half. We stopped doing the things we needed to do defensively and we paid the price for it.”
After rallying back from a seven-point, second-half deficit, the Owls (3-24) led, 70-68, with 2:09 remaining in regulation, until a Jeremy Washington jumper put the Skyhawks (4-24) even with the home team with 1:08 left. Kennesaw State had the ball with 22 seconds to go, but turned the ball over and had to withstand a missed three-point attempt as the clock ran out to get into overtime.
The Owls would take a quick, 73-70 lead 15 seconds into overtime thanks to a Dixon three, his third of the game, and were out in front, 75-72 with 2:32 left, but would miss the last three shots of the game, as Tennessee-Martin would make four out of five free throws to put them up, 76-75 with 2.9 seconds left. Dixon would take an inbounds pass and give himself an open look from the right wing as time expired, but wasn’t able to connect on what would have been the game-winning shot.
“Coach drew up a good play, it seemed like it was all coming together right at the end of it,” Dixon commented after the game. “When I let the ball go, it looked and felt like it was good, it just didn’t fall.”
Dixon scored the first points of the game 1:01 into action, and the Black and Gold would hold the lead for the next 24:54, extending the lead to as many nine points on four occasions, while the Skyhawks struggled out of the gate, missing 13 of their first 18 shots from the field. They stayed in the game early thanks to freshman Myles Taylor, who scored 18 of his game and career-high 31 points in the first half. Sophomore Mike Liabo, the squad’s leading scorer heading into the contest, was the lead culprit among Taylor’s struggling teammates, missing his first seven shots from the field before nailing a three-pointer to end the first half and send the Owls into the locker room with a, 42-36, advantage.
It would be foul trouble that would plague Preston’s squad in the second half, as Markeith Cummings , who played just nine minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls in the early going, would quickly pick up his third, as would Brandon Dawson and Aaron Anderson within the first 5:40 of the second half. Anderson and Dawson would eventually foul out.
UT-Martin would take advantage of the trio having to sit for longer periods of time, taking their first lead with 14:55 left in the contest when a Liabo layup made it 49-48. They would hold onto the lead for the next 8:43, when a Dixon layup put them in front, 64-63, with 5:51 to play. It would be with 2:24 left when, with the Owls up, 68-65, Taylor would put-back his own miss and was fouled in the process, making the free throw to tie things up at 68, part of his 13-for-14 performance from the free throw line on the night. Dixon would go to the charity stripe 19 seconds later and sink both attempts, giving the Owls the lead before Washington’s jumper ultimately sent the game into overtime.
Delbert Love scored 17 points for the Owls and Anderson added 13, leading the squad with seven rebounds.
The Owls go on the road for the first time during the month of February when they visit the North Florida Ospreys on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. for the first of two road straight road games, their final ones of the 2011-12 campaign.
