The men’s basketball team clinched the ASUN regular season in their final road trips opposing North Alabama in a 79-66 victory and a 72-56 victory against Central Arkansas.
On Wednesday, Feb. 24, the Owls took on a surging North Alabama Lions team, who had won 9 of their previous 10 games.
After trading blows until around the 7-minute mark in the first half, a 16-2 run gave the Owls control and they would never look back. Largely in part to 19 points from Junior Guard Chris Youngblood, the Owls would never relinquish the lead again, culminating in a 79-66 victory in Florence, Alabama.
Forward Demond Robinson contributed one of his best outings of the season, scoring 17 points on seven out of 10 shooting and adding 12 rebounds.
“Demond Robinson continues to be a presence for us when we need him, especially tonight playing in his home state of Alabama.” Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said postgame, “I thought we did a great job of really hanging our hats on the defensive end of the court, to hold them to 37% from the game, 36% from three, and to outbound them by six, really proud of our group.”
To conclude the regular season, the Owls traveled over 500 miles from Kennesaw to Conway, Arkansas to face the 13th-place Central Arkansas Bears on Feb. 24.
The Owls would not disappoint with a regular season title on the line Friday, holding the Bears to only 56 points, good for the second-lowest total of any conference game this season.
Likewise to the North Alabama game, the Owls grabbed a commanding lead late in the first half and never looked back.
Finishing with 13 points on another efficient five out of six shooting night, Robinson helped lead the Owls to a 72-56 victory despite a below-standard shooting night from the starting lineup.
The win Friday meant a few things for the Owls’ postseason future: KSU has now earned home-court advantage in every game they play in the ASUN Tournament, as well as an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament.
“It’s huge, just being able to sleep in your own bed, play in your own gym.” Abdur-Rahim said after defeating Central Arkansas. “When you get to host every game and it’s a place and people you’re familiar with that’s a huge advantage. But our league is one of the best in the country and no matter who comes in there we’re going to have to be on our “A” game and ready to play.”
Although they have their sights set even higher, the Owls bring home their first Regular Season Conference title since making the jump to NCAA Division I in 2005-06.
“All the praise goes to the most high, all the recognition should go to our players, the staff, our administration,” Abdur-Rahim remarked. “For me, it means I’ve had really good people around me that have believed in the vision of the program, we’ve stuck with it, and we stand here as regular season champions because we stayed together, we stayed the course, we didn’t quit, so it means a ton.”
KSU will face No. 2 Liberty in the Championship round of the ASUN tournament on Sunday, March 5 at 3 p.m. in the KSU Convocation Center.
