Follow KSU Men's Basketball – Twitter | Instagram
KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State put on an offensive show Thursday night, thrilling the large KSU crowd full of students in their first week back on campus, as the Owls led almost wire to wire in an 81-68 victory over Jacksonville on Thursday night in ASUN men's basketball action from the Convocation Center. In front of the largest crowd at a KSU game in three years (1,547), the Owls extended their school-record home win streak to nine games to move to 12-6 overall. KSU is also 4-1 in ASUN action to stay in a tie for second along with Eastern Kentucky and Liberty.
STAT OF THE GAME: Facing a top-25 ranked defense in Jacksonville, the Owls would score the most points allowed by the Dolphins this year. KSU also shot 59.6% from the floor (28-of-47) for the game, easily the most allowed by JU this season, as the previous high had been 53.3%. The Dolphins entered the night ranked 12
th in the nation in scoring defense (58.9 ppg) and 22
nd in field goal defense (38.9%).
OWLS OF THE GAME: A trio of players shined for the Owls in the victory. Senior guard
Terrell Burden led all scorers with 20 points, while
Chris Youngblood added 17 points and
Demond Robinson posted 15. The three combined for 52 points and were a combined 18-of-26 from the floor.
THE FIRST HALF: Jacksonville took an early 3-0 lead 51 seconds into the game. That was also the last lead of the night for the visitors. KSU would use a 15-4 run to go up by eight with 13:17 to play in the half. A 5-0 run from Burden and a three-point play by
Spencer Rodgers would give the Owls their largest lead of the half at 32-21, though the Dolphins scored the final four points to close within 38-33 at the halftime break. KSU finished the opening 20 minutes shooting 59.1% (13-of-22), including 4-of-10 from three-point range.
THE SECOND HALF: As they have done in their home conference games this season, the Owls opened the second half on a big run, this time an 8-2 spurt to go back up 11, 46-35 with 16:11 to play. Burden and Robinson combined for all eight points during the run. Back-to-back three-point plays from the Dolphins brought them within five points (48-43), and it was a five-point game twice more, the last at 55-50 with 10:47 left in the game. A three-point play from Robinson and a dunk from
Quincy Ademokoya put KSU back up 10, and the Owls led by as least three possessions the rest of the way.
QUOTEABLE: "Just as important as our offense is, we were able to do somethings defensively to help our offense. That's a really good team, well-coached team. I couldn't be more proud of our overall team performance tonight. We had an electric crowd tonight, over 1,000 students, it was incredible. Now with North Florida, they are a good team, a veteran team, we just need to take care of ourselves, be rested and be ready for them on Saturday."
Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim
NOTES
-The Owls' nine-game home win streak is currently tied for the 30
th-longest active streak in the nation
-Youngblood's knocked in a season-high five three-pointers, the most by an Owl this season, out of six total attempts.
-The Owls' 59.6% field goal percentage was the sixth-best in a game in KSU history.
-KSU won the battle of the boards 28-27, and held a slight 7-6 margin on second chance points.
-This is the earliest the Owls have recorded their 12
th victory of the season as a Division I team. The previous best date had been Feb. 4, 2010.
-Tonight's game was sponsored by Pritchard Injury Firm.
NEXT TIME OUT: The homestand concludes on Saturday as the Owls get a chance to avenge its only ASUN loss of the season as they host North Florida at 2.p.m. in the Convocation Center. The game will be live streamed on ESPN+.
