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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Despite putting together one of the best shooting halves this season, the Kennesaw State men's basketball team couldn't hold off Northern Kentucky in the final 20 minutes, falling to the Norse 82-69 on Saturday night.
 
KSU shot 67 percent in the first half alone with four three-pointers and held as much as a five-point lead before falling to 4-16 on the year and 1-5 in the conference. The Owls also had four players score in double digits for the second consecutive game.
 
"We played a very competitive first half," said Kennesaw State interim head coach Jimmy Lallathin. "But defensively we're still struggling to keep our guys in front of us. We shared the ball well; we just hit that four-minute stretch in the second half where they went on a 12-4 run. We gave their shooters good looks and they did what they had to do, we just couldn't recover from that.
 
"I'm excited to get back home and play in front of our home crowd. We've been on the road for a while and it's going to be good to get a couple back at our place."
 
The Owls started off what was a fast paced first seven minutes of action with eight straight makes from the field, capping off the hot start with a Delbert Love three-pointer. Loves triple set KSU ahead by three at 19-16 with 13 to go before the break before Myles Hamilton stepped up with a three of his own, extending the KSU lead to its largest of the night at 24-19.
 
KSU held onto its lead up until the 5:14 mark of the first half when NKU's Todd Johnson hit on the layup to put the Norse (8-12, 4-4 A-Sun) up by one, 30-29. Love then swung things back in favor of the Owls with a pair of free throws, but it was NKU that came out on top in the back-and-forth skirmish, taking a five-point lead of their own with 2:02 to play.
 
But the Owls didn't falter, outscoring NKU in the final two minutes 8-4 to send the game into the locker room a one-point affair at 42-41. Both teams capitalized on the free throws in the first 20 minutes, each team taking 16 trips to the line.
 
After NKU took off to a four-point lead early in the second half, a technical foul on the Norse then led to two Love free throws followed by a Nate Rucker bank shot, the four-point swing tying things up at 44 with just over 18 to go.
 
Just two minutes later the Norse regained their four-point edge at 48-44, but the Owls again found a way, Love putting in two more free throws followed by a basket from Willy Kouassi to set the score at 48 all.
 
NKU then went on the run, hitting on back-to-back three-pointers to give the game its first double-figure lead for either team at 65-55 with 8:50 to go. A Nigel Puitt pull-up jumper from the free-throw line cut the lead to 69-61 at the five-minute mark, but the Owls failed to keep pace late as the Norse took the 82-69 win.
 
Love led the scoring charge with his 15 points followed by Rucker's 14, Osemhen's 12 and Pruitt's 10, all three shooting 50 percent from the field or higher during the outing. Love also came away with four steals.
 
Orlando Coleman led the Owls on the boards with his six to go with his seven total points.
 
KSU makes its return home to the Convocation Center, where the team is 3-5 on the year, this Thursday, Jan. 23 when the Owls host the Hatters of Stetson at 7 p.m. ET.

To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State men's basketball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsMBB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
 
Season tickets are currently available for all the home court action for the Owls and can be purchased by following the link here.
   
 
 

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