Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML) | Photo Gallery | Highlights

Score: Kennesaw State 79, Bellarmine 84
Records: Kennesaw State (3-15, 0-10), Bellarmine (9-5, 6-2)
Key Players: Spencer Rodgers (27 pts, 3 rebs, 3 assts), Chris Youngblood (16 pts, 7 rebs, 4 assts), Armani Harris (10 pts, 3 rebs, 4—4 FG) Terrell Burden (10 pts 3 rebs, 2 assts) and Alex Peterson (7 pts, 6 rebs).
 
THE STORYLINE 
The Kennesaw State men's basketball turned the tables in game two against Bellarmine, pushing the Knights down to the wire before ultimately falling 84-79 Saturday evening. Spencer Rodgers led the late charge with 18 of his 27 points in the second period, finishing with six total three-pointers as KSU pulled to within one point in the final 20 seconds.

ABDUR-RAHIM QUOTES
On the takeaways from the game…
"I think our competitiveness today for 40 minutes, even in the first half. I thought we were competitive in the first half. I thought we made some mistakes offensively, just turning the ball over too much, I think we had 10 turnovers in the first half, but then we come back in the second half and cut those down to five and it gave us a better chance. I thought how hard our guys played, how focused they were on certain details that we have to bottle up and take with us from game to game because last night we didn't do that. We didn't bottle those details up and kind of played with a lackadaisical effort, not everyone, but as a team."

On looking to shoot three-pointers…
"I wouldn't say we wanted to shoot more three-pointers, we wanted to have better ball movement. If you go back and look at our first half from last night, our ball movement was not even present whatsoever. With a young team, it's part of that process, it's part of understanding when you take a scouting report and your coaches show you this is how they are going to guard just take what they are going to give you. Tonight, I thought we did a better job of taking what they gave us and the threes that we shot, they came from the guys we want shooting them. 20 of the 26 came from Spencer Rodgers and Chris Youngblood. I'm living with those guys every day and if you look at it Spencer was 6-for-13 and Chris was 3-for-7, both of those are right under 50 percent so we got the shots that we wanted.

On Spencer Rodgers…
"He's a really good player and he works at it unbelievably hard. He wants to be a pro. I think if you look at that second half, I thought he did a better job when he was on the ball of making a move and getting other guys involved and those other guys were able to make plays whether it was in the paint or at the three. And as the course of the game went on, he was able to free up even more. So, when he does a good job of trusting his teammates early, it frees him up to be naturally who he is. I'm not surprised by his performance because he works his butt off, he's in there every day working at his craft. It is impressive, but not surprising."

HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a battle from the onset as Chris Youngblood drilled a three-pointer to open the game. The two squads traded points before back-to-back jumpers gave Bellarmine a 12-8 cushion at the 13:09 mark. Three points the hard way from Terrell Burden pulled it back to a one-score game, 17-15, midway through the period, but the Knights managed to hold KSU at arm's length, pushing their lead to as high as eight points, 34-26, with less than five minutes to play.

Rodgers then answered back for the Owls with a three-pointer followed by two free throws from Youngblood to make it 34-31. Another trey, this time from Kasen Jennings, kept the Owls within range, 38-36, but Bellarmine closed out the half on a 5-0 run, including a three-pointer in the final seconds, to head into halftime leading 43-36.

The Owls stayed hot from beyond the arc to open the second half as Rodgers and Youngblood each netted a trey to make it 47-44 a minute into the period. Bellarmine responded with an 8-0 run to earn its largest lead of the night, 55-44. Unfazed, KSU rattled off 10 of the next 12 points, seven alone from Alex Peterson, to make it a one-score game once again, 57-55, at the 11:33 mark.

After a quick 5-0 swing for the Knights, the two teams traded buckets until a trey from Youngblood sparked a 7-0 run to give KSU its first lead since the opening bucket, 69-68. Rodgers maintained the Owls slim lead with back-to-back three-pointers as KSU held on to a 75-74 advantage with 2:52 left in the game.

Bellarmine regained the lead with four straight free throws, finishing a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes. KSU attempted to retake control as a layup from Burden made it a one-point game, 78-77, with 19 seconds left, but a costly turnover and Bellarmine's perfect free throw shooting down the stretch managed to give the Knights the 84-79 win.   

NOTES:
- Spencer Rodgers recorded over 20 points for the seventh time this season.
- Rodgers' six three-pointers ties his season-high while marking the sixth time this season he's netted four or more treys.
- KSU finished with 10 three-pointers, the second time this season the Owls have made 10 or more treys.
- Chris Youngblood pulled down a career-high seven rebounds, while tying his career-high with four assists and scoring in double-figures for the 12th time this year.
- Armani Harris tied his career-high with 10 points.
- Terrell Burden hit double-digits for the third time this season.
- Bellarmine outscored KSU 50-34 in the paint, finishing 23-for-27 from the free throw line.

UP NEXT:
The Owls are scheduled to hit the road for a pair of games at Lipscomb next Friday (Feb. 5) and Saturday (Feb. 6)

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.