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RICHMOND, Va. – Kennesaw State led for the first 38 minutes of a very hard-fought contest by both teams but ultimately couldn't overcome a 50-percent shooting night at the free throw line and fell 64-61 at VCU on collegiate men's basketball action on Saturday night from the Siegel Center. The Owls were outscored 14-4 over the final 5:13 and dropped to 4-3 on the season, while the Rams moved to 4-2.
THE FINAL MINUTES: After VCU grabbed a 59-57 lead on a pair of free throws with two minutes exactly on the clock, KSU answered back with a short
Chris Youngblood jumper to knot the game with 1:46 left. VCU scored on a dunk on the other end, and forced a KSU miss, but then missed a pair of free throws.
Demond Robinson grabbed a mid-air pass from
Kasen Jennings and banked in a shot from close range to again tie the game at 61. The Owls then forced a missed shot but were whistled for a foul as the teams battled for the rebound. VCU made one-of-two at the line for a 62-61 edge with 16 seconds to go. KSU set up a play to get
Terrell Burden to the basket, where he was able to draw contact while attempting a layup but no foul was whistled. The Rams grabbed the rebound and added two more free throws with under two seconds left for the final margin.
STAT OF THE GAME: KSU connected on 9-of-18 from the charity stripe, including just 3-of-8 in the second half. VCU also finished the night with a 19-14 advantage on points off turnovers.
OWLS OF THE GAME: For the first time in four years, a pair of Owls posted double-doubles in the same game as Robinson notched the first of his collegiate career with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while
Brandon Stroud recorded his third in the past four contests with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
THE FIRST HALF: It was all KSU at the start, with a huge impact by Robinson with four quick points, three rebounds and a block while Youngblood drained a three to put the Owls up 9-2. VCU could close within 11-10, but the Owls had a counter for every run by the home team. The lead grew as high as nine three times, the last on a layup by Burden with 46 seconds to play for a 34-25 lead. VCU ended the half though with the last three points, including a key steal and length of the court layup at the buzzer to bring the Rams within 34-28.
THE SECOND HALF: The Owls kept their advantage at two possessions or more for the majority of the second half and went up 57-50 on an
Alex Peterson free throw with 5:41 to play. That set the scene for the final rally by the Rams.
QUOTEABLE: "I'm always going to be proud of our guys, they play hard and they practice hard, and more importantly they give us everything they have. Overall I was proud of our effort. I have a ton of respect for VCU, but our objective every day is to make our practice harder than our games, so we were prepared. But we needed to do a better job with free throws and taking care of the ball to finish. Our ability to go rebound the ball and get 14 offensive rebounds in an A-10 building against a team with more size tells me we had a great job on the boards. Tonight I was really proud of Demond, he was establishing himself in the post and making strong moves while Kasen (Jennings) could be a starter on any team in our league, he gave us what we know he's always capable of."-
Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim
NOTES
- This was the first-ever meeting between KSU and VCU.
- The Owls finished the night shooting 41.8% from the floor, 33% (6-of-18) from three-point range, while they held VCU to just 40.9% overall, and 25% (4-of-16) from downtown.
- Joining Robinson and Stroud in double-figures was Jennings with a season-high 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-2 from downtown.
- KSU finished with a 37-29 edge on the boards, and a 28-22 advantage in the paint.
- KSU was held under 70 points for just the second time this season.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls are off until Friday, with a road contest at Mercer starting at 7 p.m.
