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OMAHA, Neb. – The Kennesaw State men's basketball team hung around with Creighton in Tuesday's season-opener before a cold start to the second half allowed the Bluejays to pull away and down the Owls 81-55.
 
How it Happened: The Bluejays (1-0) opened the game hot from three-point range, going 5-for-5 from beyond the arc to lead 15-6 at the first media timeout. KSU (0-1) cut the lead to five with a quick 6-0 run, kicked off by a layup from Antonio Spencer, to make it 21-16 at the 10:19 mark.
 
The two teams traded baskets as the Owls kept it within single-digits, 31-23, following a three-pointer and a dunk from Bryson Lockley with 4:39 left in the half. KSU closed out the half with authority as a jumper from Danny Lewis opened an 8-2 run in the final minutes to bring the Owls within shooting distance, 39-31.
 
After trading baskets to open the second half, Creighton started to pull away, taking advantage of a nearly six-minute scoreless drought for the Owls to lead 59-33. Freshman Armani Harris finally broke the cold streak for KSU with his first career bucket at the 13:23 mark, sparking a little 7-3 run to make it 62-40.
 
That would prove to be as close as the Owls would get though, as Creighton kept KSU at arm's length the rest of the way, answering each Owl bucket. The Bluejays shot over 54 percent from the floor in the second half.
 
Notes: Danny Lewis led the way for KSU with 15 points, going 7-of-13 from the floor … Bryson Lockley and Tyler Hooker both finished in double-figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively … Antonio Spencer, Adili Kuerban and C.J. Washington all earned their first career starts … four Owls made their KSU debuts against Creighton, redshirt senior Drew Romich and freshmen Terrell Burden, Armani Harris and Bobby Miller … Spencer tied his career-highs with a six points and a team-high eight rebounds … Harris recorded five rebounds, four points and two assists in his first career game … Creighton finished the game 12-of-25 from three-point range … the Bluejays outscored KSU 26-9 in points off turnovers.
 
Quotes: Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim
Overall thoughts on the first game…
"I liked a lot of the things we did. I feel really good about our guys and some of the things we hit on in our training camp from a standpoint of it's not about what happens it's how we respond. I couldn't be more proud of how they responded in the first half. You're on the road against what I think is a potential NCAA Tournament team, you're down 15-4 and bang you respond, you settle down and you trust the offense. I was really pleased with how they responded in the first half. That part of it was great, the next part of it is they have to continue to trust it, they have to continue to trust us, they have to continue to trust each other. When we responded and did a good job, then it was almost like the success kind of went to our head and we broke off and started doing our own thing again. When we play good team basketball we'll get good shots and we'll make them."
 
On positive takeaways…
"Like I said to the guys after the game, you guys are a lot better than you're giving yourselves credit for. I'm not worried about November 5, I want to get better each day. A few things I can take away is that when we trust each other we're pretty good. When we don't, we're not very good. We are only going to get better. They're still young, they are still getting to know each other. We're playing two freshmen a lot of minutes and I couldn't be more proud of them so I like where we are.
 
On starting the second half stronger…
"I like some of the things we did, we just have to be better starting the second half. That was something that bothered me a little bit when I watched the games last year. We play well in the first half, and then we come out in the second half and it was almost like we left that team in the locker room. Now they made the run they made to start the second half and we responded when we started trusting each other again. If we can put together a little more consistent overall package on both ends, I like where this team can go."
 
Up next: It's a quick turnaround for the Owls as they continue their road swing through the Midwest with a matchup at Drake Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST.