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SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Kennesaw State men's basketball committed a costly 23 turnovers, which Santa Clara turned into 31 points to fuel a 94-74 victory over the Owls on Wednesday night from the Leavey Center. That offset a strong night from the KSU freshmen class, with Adrian Wooley reaching 20+ points for the second straight game, while he combined with Braedan Lue for 43 total points. The win improved SCU to 7-5 for the year, while KSU dropped to 7-4.
STAT OF THE GAME: Points off turnovers were 16-0 in favor of Santa Clara in the first half as it built a 13-point halftime lead and were 29-2 at one point for the hosts.
THE FIRST HALF: The Owls took an early 6-2 lead thanks to three-pointers from Simeon Cottle and Lue, and led 8-7 after a pair of Andre Weir free throws with 16:19 on the clock. The Broncos then took over with a 17-4 run over the next six minutes. Four straight free throws from the home team made it a 24-14 contest with 10:18 left in the half. The Owls would close within six at 31-25 thanks to a Jamil Miller three. SCU countered with an 11-4 burst to end the half for a 42-29 halftime advantage. KSU finished the half shooting just 33.3% from the field while turning the ball over 12 times.
THE SECOND HALF: KSU scored five quick points to open the second stanza, with an Adrian Wooley trey and a layup from Rongie Gordon cutting the deficit to single digits, 42-34 just 45 seconds after halftime. Seven unanswered runs put the lead back at 15 for the Broncos and they would lead by double-digits the rest of the way.
NOTES
- Wooley's 25 points paced the Owls in scoring, while he also added four assists.
- Lue notched his second-highest point total of the season with 18 on 7-of-11 shooting.
- Cottle was the third Owl in double-figures with 14.
- As a team, KSU shot 47% (23-of-49) from the floor, 36% (8-of-22) from three-point range, and 69% at the line (20-of-29).
- Santa Clara meanwhile made 50% of its shots from the floor (28-of-56), the second-highest by a KSU opponent this season. The Broncos were also 27-of-34 at the charity stripe for 79%.
- This was the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls close out their week in California on Saturday with a 10:30 p.m. (ET) contest at San Jose State. The game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.
