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KENNESAW, Ga. – It was a banner win for the Kennesaw State men's basketball team on Monday night in the Convocation Center as the Owls toppled perennial Atlantic Sun Conference power USC Upstate, 68-58, for KSU's first A-Sun win of the season.
 
The Owls were led by veteran Delbert Love's 18 points along with stout defense that held the Spartans to just 58 points and the conference's leading scorer to just seven. KSU improves its record to 4-13 with the victory and 1-3 in the league while dropping Upstate to 7-8 overall and winless at 0-2 in the conference.
 
"We took a step tonight," said Kennesaw State interim head coach Jimmy Lallathin. "It's an emotional step because we've been fighting for so long to find a spark for these young men to step up and believe in themselves, and they did. We had some highs and we had some lows, but we battled back. I'm just so proud of our guys."
 
KSU put together an explosive first half, taking the lead for good at the 18:33 mark with a three-pointer from Myles Hamilton to put the Owls up by two early. Upstate would put in a basket of its own before the potent Owl offense went off for seven-straight points with a three from Orland Coleman and four more from Hamilton to make it 11-4 with 17 to go in the first.
 
The Spartans managed to cut the lead down to four before another offensive run from the Owls gave the home team its first double-digit lead of the night at 22-11 on the alley-oop dunk from Coleman off of the dish from Love with 10:24 on the clock.
 
Just two minutes later it was Nigel Pruitt who joined the scoring party, putting in the three-pointer to extend the KSU lead to 14 with seven left to go before connecting on three free throws on KSU's next trip down the floor to bump the edge to 17.
 
Another jam from Coleman then put the Owls up by 19 with just over five to play in the first, 32-13, before Upstate managed to dwindle the lead down to nine with 2:22 to play. But three three-pointers from KSU to end the half, two from Love, would put the Owls up by 18 at the break, 41-23.
 
Kennesaw State would enjoy its largest lead of the ballgame just 13 seconds out of the half, Bernard Morena putting in the layup from Love to make it a 20-point differential. The Spartans weren't done, however, as Upstate brought the lead down to just six points, 47-41, with 8:13 remaining in regulation after the Ty Greene three.
 
Morena then put in four straight to set the Owls back up by 10 with 5:50 on the board before a Love three 1:30 later extended the advantage back up to 12. Upstate managed to come within eight points of the Owls on three separate occasions, but big stops from the KSU defense along with clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch gave the Owls all they needed as they took the 10-point win.
 
Along with Love's game-high 18 points on three three-pointers, KSU enjoyed double-figure scoring from three other players including Coleman, who extends his double-digit scoring streak to seven games with his 11. Morena ended the game with 13 while Hamilton chipped in 10.
 
Love also led with his four assists as the Owls picked up a team season-high of 14 while shooting 43 percent from the field and holding Upstate to just a 39 percent success rate.
 
As a team, KSU was a lights-out 21-of-25 from the free-throw line while limiting Upstate to just an 8-for-17 margin.
 
The Owls are back on the road this Friday, Jan. 10 as KSU heads to in-state rival Mercer for a 7 p.m. ET showdown with the Bears.

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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