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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Demond Robinson's two-foot jump shot hung on the rim before falling through at the buzzer to give Kennesaw State its 19th win of the year, 54-52, on the road at Jacksonville State in ASUN men's basketball action on Thursday night from Pete Mathews Coliseum. After falling behind by ten points in the first half, the Owls rallied for not only their eighth road win of the year, it was also the largest comeback victory on the road in five years. KSU has now set a new school record for conference victories in a season as the Owls (19-7 overall) remains tied for first with an 11-2 mark.
STAT OF THE GAME: After its worst offensive half of the season, in which they made just 2-of-19 from three-point range (10.5%) and 6-of-31 overall (19.4%), the Owls came out attacking the Gamecocks in the second half. KSU solved the Jax State defense to knock down 6-of-12 from three-point range while shooting 11-of-26 overall from the floor after halftime for 42.3%.
OWL OF THE GAME - FIRST HALF: Chris Youngblood was the offense for the Owls to start the night. On his birthday, the junior guard scored KSU's first 14 points of the game to keep Jax State from pulling away. He also grabbed nine rebounds, and for the night he would finish with 14 points and a season-high 11 rebounds for his second career double-double and first of the year.
OWL OF THE GAME - SECOND HALF: Spencer Rodgers came up big for KSU in the second half, hitting 4-of-5 from the floor, 3-of-4 from three-point land, and scored all 11 of his points on the night in the final ten minutes.
THE FIRST HALF: Youngblood managed to keep pace with the Gamecocks to start the night, and a pair of free throws for his 12th and 13th point made it 13-12 in favor of KSU. The Owls then went completely cold from the floor, eventually missing four of its first 25 attempts from the floor. Jax State would slowly extend the lead to 10, 24-14 with five minutes left in the half. Though its shots weren't falling, KSU was not having issues on the defensive end, and would slowly chip away at the lead, scoring six of the final eight points to go into halftime down 26-20.
THE SECOND HALF: This time it was the Gamecocks who had trouble finding the bottom of the net against the Owl defense. After JSU took a 31-23 advantage, the Owls went on a 20-4 run over the next ten minutes. Quincy Ademokoya gave KSU its first lead since it was 13-12 thanks to a three-pointer, while Rodgers followed with back-to-back treys to complete the run, putting the Owls up 43-35. KSU would eventually lead by 10, 47-37, before the Gamecocks found their touch from outside. Four three-pointers in the final five minutes, the last with 32 seconds to play, led to a 52-52 tie with 32 seconds to go. Following a foul on JSU, the Owls inbounded the ball with 16 seconds left, and Terrell Burden held the ball until driving down the lane with five seconds left. Finding no room for a layup, he managed to feed Robinson under the basket and he quickly got a shot off just before the buzzer for the win.
POST-GAME QUOTES
KSU HEAD COACH AMIR-ABDUR-RAHIM
On the first half struggles on offense - "Jacksonville State did a really good job of throwing a 1-3-1 zone at us, that they haven't shown this year. And that's just part of really good coaching by Jax State and Coach Harper. They did a really good job of throwing that out there and we just had some shots that didn't go in. If you told me we went 2-of-19 from three in the first half and I would said you were crazy. Part of it was strategy by them and part of it we just didn't make shots we normally do."
On the play of Spencer Rodgers - "Spencer Rodgers is the ultimate professional. I've been saying this all year, two years ago and even a year ago he was a focal point of what we did on offense, and he still is but now his role has changed and he's coming off the bench. But at no point did he have his head down, or his attitude or effort been bad. So when you're that type of kid, you're going to show up for a team at some point and we're really fortunate that night was tonight."
On the winning basket - "We ran the play, but after the play breaks down, you've got to have good players. That wasn't coaching right there, I'll be the first to tell you. I'm fortunate to have a very good point guard who's patient and tough, and guys who understand movement off the ball. Terrell got baseline and what I love about that is we've grown even from a week ago. We said we wanted the absolute last shot, if we miss it we go into overtime and take our chances. But we got the absolute last shot and executed well."
NOTES
- KSU's 19th win of the season extends the school record for most wins in a season, as the previous record was 14 in 2016-17. That also matches the Owls' total wins from the previous three seasons combined.
-The Owls' 11th ASUN win sets a new school standard, topping the 2006-07 team that went 10-10 in the conference.
-KSU's 10-point first half deficit was the largest overcome by the Owls in a win on the road since trailing by 11 at USC Upstate in an eventual 81-80 victory on Jan. 27, 1981.
-The win marked the first for KSU over the Gamecocks as members of the ASUN Conference, after dropping a regular season matchup in Kennesaw and the ASUN Tournament Quarterfinal matchup at Jacksonville.
-This was the lowest scoring game KSU has played in since a 51-44 loss at Creighton on Nov. 11, 2021, and the lowest points scored by the Owls in a win since a 51-50 win at Jacksonville on Jan. 31, 2015.
-Despite losing the rebound battle 42-39, the Owls did hold a 17-7 edge on second change points.
NEXT TIME OUT: The same two teams will be back in action for round two on Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Convocation Center in Kennesaw on Alumni Day at KSU.
