By: By Brandon Scardigli
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KENNESAW, Ga. – A
Myles Hamilton steal with just four seconds on the clock capped off a come-from-behind win for the Kennesaw State men's basketball team in the Convocation Center on Friday night, as the Owls took down Northern Kentucky, 69-67.
After trailing by as many as 13 points in the second half, the Owls found themselves down by just one, 67-66, with under a minute to play and the ball in hand. The Norse sent
Bernard Morena to the free-throw line after the late foul, the sophomore hitting on both chances from the charity stripe to give KSU the one-point lead with just 22 seconds to play.
With the teams exchanging timeouts it was Hamilton who came up with the clutch takeaway, picking the pocket of NKU's Jordan Jackson in the high post with four seconds to play, putting the checkmark in the win column for the Owls in the process.
The Owls improve to 5-21 with the win and earn their second league victory, putting KSU at 2-11 in the A-Sun while dropping the Norse to 8-18 on the year and 4-10 in the conference standings.
"I was proud of our guys," said Kennesaw State interim head coach Jimmy Lallatin. "We kept our poise for the most part. I had to get on them a couple of times, but it's a credit to them in the second half. I thought we really buckled down at the end of the game in the locker room. We continue to score the ball well. I was proud of some guys for making plays at the end that they haven't made. Myles' play is the one we'll focus on, but those are the plays we've been missing. We've been making the opposite play and tonight we made the play to seal down a win. There are a lot of plays we can point too to find an excuse why we didn't win, but tonight we made an excuse to win and I'm proud of them."
As Northern Kentucky saw its lead extend to the 13 point plateau early on in the second half, the Norse offense held steady, keeping a double-figure lead up until the 11:12 mark in the period.
Yonel Brown then connected on the three-pointer to make it a nine-point game with a Hamilton free throw cutting it to eight, 57-49, with 9:07 to go.
The Owls then rallied, going on an 11-0 run over a five minute stretch that included five points from
Andrew Osemhen, putting the home team up by four, 65-61, with 3:16 on the clock. Defensively, the Owls would hold the Norse without a field goal from the 8:08 mark to the :49 mark, when Daniel Camps hit a layup to put the Norse up by one, 67-66, before the game-winning free throws from Morena.
After putting in the first two points of the contest on a Hamilton jumper, the Owls would give up the lead to the Norse, NKU taking a 10-point advantage into the locker room after the first 20 minutes of action, 40-30.
NKU extended its lead up to its largest of the night at 13 points with 16:13 to play before the Owls went on their game-winning run.
"A win is a win," added Lallathin. "We'll take it. It was the tale of two games again. First half we came out a little sluggish. We were scoring efficiently, but defensively we weren't guarding the ball very well. They're a tough team to defend at times with their smaller lineup and they're well coached. They're a motion offense to a T on how they do it."
The Owls put three players in double-figure scoring,
Delbert Love leading with 18 points, 14 of those coming in the first half alone, along with 14 from
Orlando Coleman and 13 coming from Hamilton, KSU shooting a stellar 52 percent from the field as a team during the win.
Along with his 14 points, Coleman led the team in rebounds with seven as well as in assists with three. Hamilton and Love would each dish out two assists, Love coming up with three steals as well.
KSU also won the battle on the boards, outrebounding the Norse 30-27, bringing in 19 defensive rebounds, limiting NKU to just three second chance points.
The Owls are back on the court this Sunday, Feb. 16 when Lipscomb comes to the Convocation Center for a 2 p.m. ET contest.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State men's basketball news follow the team on Twitter
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@KSUOwlsMBB or by liking Kennesaw State University on
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