Chris Raimondi—Sports Editor
Fifteenth ranked Butler had no problems putting away Kennesaw State on Monday night in a 93-51 rout of the Owls.
KSU had three players score in double figures, but ultimately the Owls could not get out of their own way with 22 turnovers and 40 percent shooting from the field.
“We were playing against a great team that defended with physicality and efficiency,” KSU head coach Jimmy Lallathin said. “I think we succumbed to their physicality and it got us little bit out of character.”
Yonel Brown led KSU scorers with 14 points while Orlando Coleman and Delbert Love each put in 11 points.
The Owls held a lead, briefly, after Love made a 3-pointer less than a minute into the game on their second possession to give KSU a 3-2 advantage. Butler wasted no time taking the lead back on their next possession by way of a Kellen Dunham 3-pointer.
Butler opened up a double-digit lead by the 13 minute mark in the first half fueled by Roosevelt Jones’ 14 first half points. The Bulldogs were able to get to the paint with ease in the first half by drawing 13 fouls and attempting 19 free-throws, sinking 17 of them. The score at the half was 53-27, Butler leading.
The second half only worsened for KSU as the team shot 38 percent while attempting just eight free-throws. Butler’s Kameron Woods threw down a dunk 10 seconds into the second half to give the Bulldogs a 27 point lead and all of the momentum for the rest of the half.
Butler only went 11-20 from the free-throw line in the second half, but 12 more KSU turnovers ended any chance of a miracle road comeback. The Bulldogs held their largest lead of 42 with about a minute remaining in regulation before claiming a 93-51 victory.
“Hopefully, we can learn something from this in how we want to execute offensive and defensive game plans and get healthy over the break we have over the next week,” Lallathin said.
The loss moves KSU to 3-7 on the season and 0-6 on the road with losses to Syracuse, Cal, North Dakota State, Florida International and Mercer. Next up for the Owls is Youngstown State in Ohio on Wednesday Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. KSU’s next home game is against UMBC Saturday Dec. 20 at 3 p.m. in the Convocation Center.
