Kennesaw State came into the week tied with the Liberty Flames for first place in the ASUN standings, with both squads holding 9-1 conference records.
The Owls took on the Bellarmine Knights on Feb. 2 in Louisville.
After a slow start that saw the Owls down by 17 points early in the first half, the three-point shot started to fall for KSU.
The Owls took a one-point lead into halftime at 40-39, before trading blows all throughout the second half. Although the Owls were able to build an 8-point lead at one point, Bellarmine would not go away and would eventually force overtime.
After five more competitive minutes of play, the score was still tied at 77-77, forcing a 2nd overtime.
Ultimately, foul trouble got the best of Bellarmine and the Owls were able to close out a 90-84 victory behind 27 points from Senior Guard Terrell Burden, and 20 more from Chris Youngblood.
“Those two guys mean more to our team than people realize,” Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said. “It’s not just their ability to score, it’s their ability to get other players easy shots, they are probably two of our more unselfish guys. What they did tonight, especially Chris down the stretch, couldn’t be prouder of that, competing the way they did.”
The Owls would follow up by taking their 8-game win streak out to Richmond, Kentucky on Feb. 4 to face the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.
After a successful first half that saw the Owls take a 43-34 lead into the locker room, Eastern Kentucky roared back and was able to hold the lead for the majority of the second half.
Although the Owls were able to draw within a 1-point late in the half, their efforts proved to be too little, ultimately falling 77-74.
“I know the heart of my guys, I know the character of my guys. Not for one second did I think that game was over when they went up eight. We’ve been through a lot, a ton of adversity, and we’ve been in situations like that before where we folded in past years,” Coach Abdur-Rahim said. “I knew we would battle back, but this is part of becoming a championship program, where you go through nights where things don’t go your way.”
“Now it’s going to be how do we respond, how do we bounce back, and how well does our connection stay,” Coach Abdur-Rahim said after the Owl’s first loss since Jan. 5, against North Florida. “I think it’s going to stay because again, I know the heart of my guys and I know the character of our guys.”
The silver lining Saturday however, was Liberty dropping to Lipscomb, meaning Kennesaw State remains tied for 1st place in the ASUN.
The Owls return to play on the road at Jacksonville State at 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 9.
