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Score: Kennesaw State 63, Samford 65
Records: Kennesaw State (3-4, 0-0), Samford (3-3, 0-0)
Key Players: Brandon Stroud (11 pts, 11 rebs, 2 stls), Chris Youngblood (19 pts, 5 rebs), Spencer Rodgers (10 pts, 2 rebs), Alex Peterson (9 pts, 7 rebs) amd Terrell Burden (7 pts, 4 rebs, 2 assts, 2 blks).

THE STORYLINE
The Kennesaw State men's basketball team fell in heartbreaking fashion to the Bulldogs as a last second layup from Samford erased a second half comeback to hand the Owls a 65-63 loss in a tight Saturday evening battle at the Convocation Center. The Owls were led by the East Coweta duo of Chris Youngblood and Brandon Stroud as Youngblood netted a team-high 19 points while Stroud recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

ABDUR-RAHIM QUOTES
On his thoughts about the game...
"First off hats off to Samford, they came in and fought after losing a tough one on the road the other night at Troy. For coach to come in and get his group ready to play is just a testament to how good of a coach he is. But to be honest, we got what we deserved tonight. I thought we went to Belmont, we played a very good game at Belmont, fought and found out some things about ourselves and like a young inexperienced team does, they came back and they rested on it. I need to do a better job of figuring out how to get them ready to go at practice, because we had a very nonchalant practice the other day and then we ended up having a not very spirited shoot around today and it comes back to bite you when you're not really prepared and not focusing on the details. We told them we would do a good job of guarding them, I wasn't worried about that, but when the shot went up it would be offensive rebounds, it would be transition points. When you look at both of them, they got 17 second chance points off of offensive rebounds and then when you look at fast break points they have nine, that's 27 points right there and you're not beating anybody when you're giving up 17 second chance points. But when you're in practice pleading with them to, when the shot goes up, turn and find somebody to hit as a young inexperienced team they look at you like you're crazy. So I need to do a better job period."

HOW IT HAPPENED 
Trailing 39-32 at halftime, the Owls came out firing to open the second period going on a 12-0 run over the first five minutes to take a 44-39 lead. Chris Youngblood and Spencer Rodgers netted five points each in the opening minutes as their back-to-back three-pointers put KSU on top. A quick 6-0 run pulled the Bulldogs back in front for a second, but the Owls responded with a 6-0 run of their own to lead 50-45 with just under 11 minutes to play.
 
KSU managed to keep the Bulldogs at arm's length throughout most of the period, answering Samford shot-for-shot. Rodgers netted nine of his 10 points in the second period while Youngblood led the team with nine of his 19 points down the stretch.
 
Samford finally pulled ahead behind six straight points from Myron Gordon for a slim 62-60 lead with a minute left. Gordon recorded all 17 of his points in the second half, netting 17 of Samford's 26 points in the period.
 
With 19 seconds left, Jamie Lewis stepped up and drained a three-pointer to make it 63-62, but the Bulldogs had just enough time to draw up a play and get a layup in the final three seconds for the eventual 65-63 win.
 
KSU held Samford to 25 percent shooting in the second half with the Bulldog's going 0-for-9 from three-point range. Samford was 6-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first half, a major reason why they were able to take the lead into the locker room.
 
With both teams trading buckets throughout the first 10 minutes of the first half deadlocked at 16-16, a trey from the Bulldogs sparked a quick 5-0 run to put Samford on top 21-16. Samford made four of its six three-pointers in the final six minutes, closing out the half on a 10-2 run to lead 39-32 at the break.  

NOTES
- Brandon Stroud's 11 points and 11 rebounds are both career-highs.
- Chris Youngblood logged his fourth straight game with 10 or more points and fourth of the season with 15 or more.
- Spencer Rodgers kept his seven-game double-digit scoring streak alive with 10 points.
- The Owls held Samford to a season-low 65 points, the third straight game, fifth of the season, KSU has held an opponent to less than 70 points.
- Alex Peterson was 4-for-4 from the floor for nine points.
- KSU shot a season-low 57.7 percent from the free throw line, going 15-for-26.

UP NEXT
The Owls close out non-conference play Tuesday afternoon, hosting in-state rival Mercer at 2 p.m.