By: KSU Sports Information
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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State Owls led by a point with 2:39 to play on Saturday afternoon and shot a season-high 56.8 percent from the field, but the East Tennessee State Bucs scored eight of the last 10 points in the game, sending the Owls to a, 64-59, defeat at the KSU Convocation Center. Delbert Love scored 19 points as one of three Owls in double figures.
“I can’t fault the energy or the effort, we just gave up too many offensive rebounds in the second half, and we allowed 15 second chance points,” Owls head coach Lewis Preston said. “I’ve been a part of a lot of different types of games, but I can’t remember shooting 57 percent from the field and not coming out with a win, that’s disappointing. That being said, we didn’t get the tough rebounds when we needed them, and they were more aggressive coming out of the locker room in the second half.”
The Owls (3-21, 0-12 A-Sun) led, 30-24, at halftime, on the strength of 7-for-13 shooting from long-range during the first 20 minutes of play, with Love going 5-for-5 from beyond the arc, after leading by as many as 11 points in the first half. ETSU (12-10, 6-5 A-Sun) would trail from the 9:56 mark in the first half until 11:32 remaining in the game, when an Isiah Brown layup made it 41-40, the first of five lead changes in the second half.
After quickly regaining the lead, the Black and Gold would find themselves in their first real hole shortly thereafter, allowing the Bucs to score seven unanswered points and open up a, 48-42, cushion over the hosts with 8:20 to play, the Owls largest deficit of the game.
The Owls would grab the momentum right back from ETSU, scoring the next nine points to put themselves back in front by three, with Spencer Dixon and Mirza Sabic each draining threes to help spur the rally.
Preston’s squad still led, 57-54, with 2:39 to go when the Bucs Tommy Hubbard made what would turn out to be the seminal play of the game, taking an Adam Sollazzo feed and lying it while getting fouled and then converting the three-point play to tie things up and eliminate the Owls final lead of the contest. They would score the next five points to put the game out of reach with under 10 seconds to play.
Early on, it didn’t look like the Owls were going to have much trouble staying out in front of the Bucs, who coming into Saturday had dropped three straight A-Sun contests. Behind Love’s 15 first half points, the Owls went on a, 10-0, run midway through the first half to jump out in front, 21-11, with Love making a pair of threes and baskets coming from Markeith Cummings and Brandon Dawson, who was 5-for-8 on the night to match his career high with 12 points. They would extend their lead to 24-13 with 5:42 to play before ETSU cut the margin to six points heading into the break.
Trouble would strike the freshman sharpshooter, however, as the first half wound down, with Love picking up his third foul with 3:21 to play in the first half. He would pick up his fourth with 13:50 to go in the game, making it hard for Preston to keep him out there for long stretches of time.
“With the defense they were throwing at us in the first half, I had some really good success shooting out of it, but in the second half, it was hard to become a factor because I was playing with four fouls for most of it,” Love commented. “As a guard, you have to make good decisions and know when to take charges, and watch your hands on defense at all times. There shouldn’t be a situation in which I pick up four fouls.”
Kennesaw State shot 10-for-16 (.625) from the floor in the second half, but was out-rebounded, 13-4, after halftime by the Bucs, who were 10-for-16 from the field over the last 20 minutes. For the game, they were 11-for-19 from three-point range, a season-best 57.9 percent.
Dixon scored 14 points to join Love and Dawson in double figures. Markeith Cummings had just five points on the afternoon, but scored his 1500
th career point, becoming just the third Owl in program history to reach that milestone.
Sollazzo was joined in double figures by Brown and Rashawn Rembert, who scored 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Saturday afternoon’s game was the first of three straight home games for the Owls, who host USC Upstate on Monday evening at 7:00 p.m. The first 250 students to arrive at Monday night's game will receive Owl headbands as part of '80's night.
