The Owls are unable to get back into the win column.
Men’s basketball dropped a back-and-forth road battle to the Central Arkansas Bears 92-87 on Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Farris Center and fell to 4-3 in conference play.
After a disappointing and rare home loss to North Alabama on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at the Convocation Center, the Owls were unable to bounce back in Conway, Arkansas. Senior Forward Demond Robinson rebounded after a subpar performance on Wednesday, leading all scorers with 20 points to go along with seven rebounds. UCA’s trio of Tucker Anderson, Masai Olowokere and Daniel Sofield would be too much, however, combining for 54 points.
Kennesaw State started positively with three-point makes from Guard Jamel King and Robinson to give the Owls an early 10-4 lead.
Central Arkansas responded with six quick points of their own to tie the game at 10-10. After a brief back-and-forth, the Owls would regain control of the lead and held onto it for the rest of the first half.
The Owls’ advantage grew to as large as 12 points before UCA rallied to cut it to a 43-38 halftime score.
In the second half, KSU picked things up where they left off, controlling the lead for the first 10 minutes of play. After cutting the lead down to one point, UCA’s Javion Guy-King made a layup at the 9:27 mark to give the Bears their first lead of the game at 63-62.
Both sides traded scores and the lead for the next several minutes until an Olowokere trip to the free throw line gave UCA a two-possession lead at 78-73.
With 1:33 remaining, Owls Guard Terrell Burden capped off a 6-0 run with a layup to put the Owls back in front 79-78.
UCA proceeded to put together their best stretch of the game with an 11-2 run. After a few late three-pointers from Guard Simeon Cottle and a few more UCA free throw makes, the Owls would fall by a final score of 92-87.
Defense continues to be a struggle in Antoine Pettway‘s first season as Owls Head Coach as KSU has now given up 90 points or more in back-to-back games.
Although Robinson led the way in scoring, Burden and Cottle weren’t far behind with a combined 35 points on an efficient 12-25 shooting from the field.
For UCA, Anderson continued to impress in his freshman season with 19 points and eight rebounds.
The loss drops KSU to 13-8 overall and 4-3 in conference play with one game remaining till the halfway point in the ASUN schedule.
The Owls now sit in fifth place in the Atlantic Sun standings behind Eastern Kentucky, Stetson, North Florida and UCA.
