The Kennesaw State men’s basketball team hosted its final two games of the season last week, falling 76-52 to Liberty on Thursday, Feb. 27, before losing 76-55 to the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday, Feb. 29.
Against Liberty, redshirt senior forward Bryson Lockley led the Owls with 15 points and six rebounds while redshirt sophomore Antonio Spencer contributed 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks.
The Flames entered the contest ranked first in the Atlantic Sun Conference with an overall record of 26-3 while KSU ranked at the bottom of the conference with a 1-26 record. Despite the contrasting records, the two teams were evenly matched in the first half.
Sophomore guard Adili Kuerban put the Owls on the board early on with a three-point jumper assisted by redshirt senior guard Tyler Hooker. The teams traded shots throughout a low-scoring beginning to the game. After 10 minutes had elapsed, the score was tied 11-11.
“I thought our teamwork on both ends of the court was really good,” head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said. “Offensively, we came in with a game plan. Every shot didn’t go in, but we stuck with the game plan, and I thought we did a very good job with sharing the ball.”
As KSU trailed by 10 points in the final minute of the half, Lockley hit shots on back-to-back possessions to shrink the lead to six. The Flames held a 35-29 lead at halftime.
In the first half, rebounding and shooting efficiency were key factors as the Owls shot 78 percent from the free-throw line while the Flames shot just 60 percent. Liberty out-rebounded the Owls 19-10, which led to eight second-chance points in the half.
KSU started the second half strong as Hooker found Spencer for a slam dunk on the team’s first possession. The Owls could not keep any momentum and lost its rhythm after the dunk, going scoreless for the next six minutes.
The Flames would capitalize on KSU’s scoring drought, scoring 16 unanswered points.
“We come out in the second half and have great execution,” Abdur-Rahim said. “And then for whatever reason, we go down on the defensive end. Offensively, we just completely quit sharing the ball for whatever reason.”
Liberty maintained a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game and won with a final score of 76-52. The Owls scored just 23 points in the second half while the Flames notched 41 points, fueled by six three-point shots.
For the team’s final game of the season, KSU hosted the NJIT Highlanders for Senior Day on Saturday, Feb. 29. The Owls fell 76-55 after falling far behind in the first half.
KSU was outscored 41-20 in the first half after converting just 25 percent of its field goal attempts. Hooker led the Owls with nine points in the half.
After making adjustments at halftime, the team found more offensive success in the second half and scored 35 points. Despite this, the Owls’ defense continued to struggle and could not recover the deficit.
Three seniors led the Owls in the final game of their respective careers. Lockley recorded a team-high 17 points and eight rebounds while Hooker totaled 13 points and a team-high five assists. Redshirt senior guard Drew Romich also featured on Senior Day.
After finishing the season with a record of 1-28, the team will now direct its attention towards the off-season.
“Everybody wants change until it’s time to do the things that create change, and it’s not easy,” Abdur-Rahim said. “Our motto all summer is to be trained to go, and we [have to] be comfortable being uncomfortable. When we do those things, our program is going to be totally different, and we’ll be right there competing for ASUN championships.”
