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KENNESAW, Ga. - The Kennesaw State men's basketball team tempered the flames early but could not keep up as the red-hot three-point shooting by Liberty in the second half downed the Owls 76-52 Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
 
How it Happened: KSU (1-27, 0-15) and Liberty (27-3, 13-2) exchanged blows in what was a low-scoring affair for the first few minutes of the game, as a couple of early first-half threes by Adili Kuerban kept the Owls within two points, 11-9, at the 12:44 mark.
 
Back-to-back perfect trips to the free throw line by Bryson Lockley and Ugo Obineke put the Owls up 13-12 with 9:37 left to give them their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. 
 
The two squads traded the lead over the next few minutes before LU's Caleb Homesley and Scottie James netted three points each, one from the arc and one the hard way, to put the Flames on top 23-18 with 5:17 to play in the half. 
 
The Flames took a double-digit lead, 35-10, thanks to Homesley's fourth triple of the half with 1:40 to go, but the Owls responded with back-to-back buckets by Lockley and a monster block by Antonio Spencer to cut the lead to six, making the score 35-29 going into the break. 
 
The first period featured eight total lead changes and four ties.
 
The Flames continued to heat up after the break, starting the second half on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 44-31 at the 17:46 mark. 
 
Liberty never looked back, capping off its 16-2 run to open the period with a James layup before Obineke ended the run with a jumper to make it 51-33 with 13 minutes still to play. 
 
The rest of the half was a back-and-forth affair as KSU flirted with Liberty's 20-point lead but could not break through. Liberty outscored the Owls 41-23 in the second half, going 6-of-11 from three-point range and shooting 66.7 percent from the floor.
 
Notes: Bryson Lockley led the Owls with 15 points and six rebounds … Antonio Spencer recorded two blocks, picking up multiple blocks for the fifth time this season … Spencer netted 10 points on the night, to mark the second time this season he's broken double-figures … Tyler Hooker doled out six assists while adding six points … Liberty went 10-for-24 from three-point range compared to 3-for-21 by the Owls.
 
Quotes: Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim
On the first half versus the second half…
"I thought our teamwork on both ends of the court was really good. I thought defensively our communication was good, our competitiveness was good, and then offensively we came in with a game plan and I thought literally for 20 minutes we did a great job of sticking to that. Every shot didn't go in, but we stuck with the game plan and I thought we did a good job of sharing the ball. We come out in the second half, great execution coming out, we get a dunk, and then for whatever reason we go down on the defensive end, not the same communication, not the same connection. And then offensively, we just quit sharing the ball for whatever reason and we struggle with that. If we're not sharing the ball, we don't have good ball movement, it takes us out of our rhythm. And basketball is a confidence, it's a rhythm game. As crazy as it sounds, you've got five guys out there playing and if one guy is not on the same page from a sharing standpoint, it will pull everybody else's rhythm off. We are not where we want to be as a program just yet to be able to do that. We have to stay consistent in the game plan, stay consistent in sharing the ball with each other and if we do that we're going to put ourselves in a good position to win the game."
 
On Bryson Lockley's play…
"Bryson is always ready to go. Sometimes he can be his own worst enemy because he'll get into his own head. I thought his aggression early on was good, and his heart is always in the right place. I've never had any issues with Bryson and his effort."
 
On KSU's last game Saturday…
"With it being one game left and it being senior night, their minds, their hearts, should be with Tyler Hooker, Bryson Lockley and Drew Romich. Everybody's minds should be on them, everybody should have them in their heart. It's their last chance to play in the Convocation Center so they have to be ready to go for those three guys."
 
Up Next: The Owls wrap up the 2019-20 season on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 1 p.m., hosting NJIT for Senior Day.