By Mason Wittner, Staff Writer
Nigel Pruitt’s 26-point performance was not enough to salvage Kennesaw State’s lack of offensive productivity as the Owls fell to USC Upstate 90-54 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament Tuesday.
KSU (10-22, 4-10) shot a dismal 16-for-59 on the night, equating to 27.1 percent.
“We struggled making shots tonight,” KSU head coach Jimmy Lallathin told KSUOwls.com. “We just couldn’t find the bottom of the basket and that hurts. They were able to turn a couple of our misses into quick baskets and it was deflating. I thought we were taking good shots from guys that we want taking them, but we just couldn’t find the bottom of the net.”
Pruitt, 9-18 shooting, was one of only two Owls in double-digits scoring. Damien Wilson scored 10 points off 3-for-14 shooting.
“Nigel made the first shot and then missed the next five or six, but he kept fighting and found different ways to score,” Lallathin told KSUOwls.com. “He’s definitely a young man that we’re very excited about, and we’re very excited about moving forward with him as a senior next year.”
KSU trailed 62-37 at the 10:30 mark in the second half. USC Upstate managed to hold an insurmountable lead for the remainder of the second half en route to the blow out victory.
The Owls took an early as a Pruitt knocked down a three to put the Owls up 3-0 with 19:36 left to play in the opening half. The Spartans countered with a 12-5 run, taking a 12-8 lead with 15:11 remaining.
The Spartans began to run away with the game with a 15-2 run that extended their lead to 27-10 with 6:45 to go.
The Owls only saw their deficit increase in the following six minutes as USC Upstate held a 42-17 advantage at halftime.
KSU continued to mirror their play from the first half in the second, surrendering a 10-2 run and extending their deficit to 52-19.
USC Upstate led 62-27 with 13:28 remaining in the second half. The Owls managed to scrape together a 10-0 run over a three-minute span.
