Yonel Brown’s 34-point performance did not prove to be enough as Kennesaw State was unable to complete a late comeback and fell to Stetson 84-79 on Saturday.
Kendrick Ray contributed 22 points, while no other Owl managed to score in double figures. Brown and Ray combined for over 50 points for the second straight game – they scored a combined 51 points against Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday.
“The last couple of games we haven’t had it,” head coach Al Skinner said of his teams’ failure to have a third elite scorer. “There is no question about it. We need that. Whether it’s from Bernard, Nick, Nigel, or Kyle, we need that third option and we’re lacking that right now. These games that we’ve lost, we have not had that. Guys just have to come in and give us a lift.”
Stetson’s Luke Doyle knocked down a three with 5:59 remaining in the second half to seemingly seal KSU’s fate, extending the Hatters lead to 75-60.
Although the Owls knocked down a pair of shots, the Hatters responded with two buckets of their own to keep Stetson’s lead at 15. KSU trailed 79-64 with 3:23 left to play.
KSU sparked a 15-3 run, capped by a put-back dunk from Jordan Jones, to cut the Owls’ deficit to 82-79 with five seconds remaining in the game.
Coach Skinner attempted to call a timeout following the bucket, but was unable to catch the attention of the referees before the Hatters were able to inbound the ball to Doyle and draw a foul to knock down the game-clinching free throws.
“When we scored the basket, I immediately jumped up and literally sprinted down the floor yelling [for a timeout] and he was sprinting away from me,” Skinner said. “That makes it tough. When I was walking out after the game, I just asked him why he didn’t recognize the situation and observe me trying to call timeout.”
The Owls looked strong early, taking a 10-4 lead on a Bernard Morena layup with 16:00 left in the opening half.
Stetson responded with an 8-0 run to regain the lead with 13:17 left in half. The advantage was short-lived, however, as Brown’s three put the Owls up 13-12 with 13:01 to go. KSU would not surrender its lead for the next 11 minutes, seeing it reach as high as 9 points [29-20].
Trailing by five, the Hatters went on a 7-2 spurt to tie the game at 37-apiece with two minutes left in the half. Stetson knocked down a pair of free throws, KSU responded with a Nigel Pruitt jump shot, and the squads went into the locker room deadlocked at 39-39.
The momentum shifted to the Hatters early in the second half as they began on a 13-3 run to open up a 52-42 lead at the 15:21 mark. Stetson successfully kept KSU in the rearview mirror for the majority of the second half, not allowing its lead to dip below seven points until the Owls’ late run.
The Owls will travel to Spartanburg, South Carolina in seek of their first road win of the season as they take on USC Upstate on Wednesday Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.
