Follow KSU Men's Basketball – Twitter | Instagram
KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State made the plays when it needed at the end, scoring almost half of its total points in the final 12 minutes to rally from a five-point deficit to claim a 65-56 victory over USC Upstate on Tuesday night in men's college basketball action from the Convocation Center. The Owls moved to 8-4 overall with the victory and have now won a school-record six straight home games as a Division I program.
OWL OF THE GAME: Brandon Stroud did a little of everything for the Owls, as he was one rebound short of a fourth double-double for the year after finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds. He also added two assists in the victory.
STAT OF THE GAME: Kennesaw State finished with 10 three-pointers on the night to just five for the Spartans (5-6), resulting in a 15-point difference.
THE FIRST HALF: KSU led for almost the entire half, outside of the opening two baskets for the Spartans. It was a one-point contest at 19-18 when the Owls reeled off seven unanswered, capped by a three-point basket from
Spencer Rodgers and a three-point play from
Cole LaRue to put KSU up eight with under six minutes to play. The score was 28-20 following a layup from
Terrell Burden with 4:29 on the clock, but the Owls went cold after that, missing their next three shots while turning the ball over four times. Upstate took advantage to score the final six points of the half to close within 28-26.
THE SECOND HALF: The Spartans took their first lead since the opening minutes on a three-pointer for a 34-33 advantage with 15:19 to play. After KSU went back up by one, Upstate scored six straight for a 40-35 edge with 12:10 on the clock.
THE TURNING POINT: The game was tied at 46-46 with 7:30 to play, when
Demond Robinson scored on back-to-back rim rocking dunks that brought the home crowd to their feet. That sparked a 11-3 spurt, and a trey from
Chris Youngblood put KSU up 57-49 with just over four minutes to play. The Owls led by as least six points the rest of the way.
QUOTEABLE: "Two years ago we were 3-7 in games determined by single digits. You've got to go through years like that to get to years like this. That last 11:55 of the game, we played with the heart and passion that we're used to, that our fans deserve. I was really proud of Brandon tonight as well, he did a heck of a job with his points and rebounds. Whenever he can stuff the stat sheet like that, we're pretty good. And when we got in some foul trouble tonight and had players step up, that's just Kennesaw State basketball. We always have a connection, a next play and next man up mentality. I thought
Spencer Rodgers,
Quincy Ademokoya and
Simeon Cottle all gave us great minutes tonight."
Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim
NOTES
-This is the quickest in KSU's Division I history it has reached eight victories. The previous record was Jan. 14, during the 2005-06 season.
-KSU has won five games over Division I opponents before January 1 for the first time ever.
- Burden paced the Owls in scoring with 16 points, as he was 5-8 from the floor, and a perfect 2-2 from three-point range.
-KSU is 4-1 this year in games decided by single digits.
- Robinson was the third Owl in double-figures with 10. He also posted both of the team's blocks on the night.
-KSU shot 40% from the floor for the night, was 10-27 for 37% from behind the arc, and made 64.7% (11-17) of its attempts at the free throw line.
-The Owls held a 36-31 edge on the boards, and 17-10 on second chance points. That helped offset KSU's 18 turnovers, which were turned into 19 points for the Spartans.
-Tuesday's game was sponsored by The Stand Up Guys junk removal service -
StandUpGuys.com.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls close out the non-conference slate on Friday night with a 7 pm contest at No. 18 Indiana, in a game televised live on the Big Ten Network from Bloomington, Ind.
