Poor shooting killed the Owls en route to their first home loss of the season, before young faces shined against FIU
Liberty handed men’s basketball a 76-68 loss at home, holding the Owls to 6-32 from three at the Convocation Center on Thursday night.
“I think you look no further than our defense,” Owls coach Antoine Pettway said. “W didn’t do a good job of guarding Liberty, so we couldn’t get out in transition.”
After a Simeon Cottle layup put Kennesaw State up 4-2 in the opening minutes, Liberty would never trail again.
The Flames went on an 18-6 run take a 20-10 advantage as early as the 9:28 mark of the opening period. The lead fluctuated between 5 and 11 for the remainder of the half until Liberty took a 38-30 lead into the halftime locker room.
An early bright spot for the Owls was center Andre Weir, who finished the half with eight points and eight rebounds.
Liberty extended its lead to its largest at the time at 44-30 thanks to a 6-2 run to open the second half.
The Owls responded with a 10-2 run of their own to cut the deficit to 46-40, prompting Liberty coach Ritchie McKay to call a timeout.
Pettway switched KSU’s defense to 1-3-1 zone for a few minutes in the second half in hopes of throwing the Flames off rhythm on offense.
“They mad made shots against the one and the man,” Pettway said. “We got back in the gameplan with the 1-3-1. What we did, we want from 1-3-1 to a man so it was an adjustment that we made — I don’t think we guarded well enough in the man or the zone well enough to win the game.
KSU remained within striking distance, but drawing back within two possessions for when Cottle hit a mid-range jumper at the 8:56 mark to make the score 56-50.
Liberty controlled the pace for the rest of the contest, swelling its lead to as large as 65-50 with just under seven minutes remaining.
KSU cut back to within six points one final time at the 1:54 mark on a Rongie Gordon Jumper, but Liberty was able to see out a 76-68 victory.
Adrian Wooley led all scorers with 22 points, while Weir finished with the first double-double of his KSU career at 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Liberty was led by guard Kaden Metheny who finished with 17 points on 6-12 shooting. Zach Cleveland and Colin Porter combined for 27 points to help carry the load.
The loss was KSU’s first home defeat of the season, dropping them to 12-9 overall and 4-4 in Conference USA play.
The reported attendance was 3,151 fans, good for the fifth largest crowd in program history.
“Tough night, I thought we had a great crowd,” Pettway said. “Our students really showed up for us. Sorry we didn’t give them a great product tonight.”
The Owls responded on Saturday with a 73-67 victory over Florida International, despite continued shooting woes and 18 turnovers.
Adrian Wooley led the way for the Owls with 18 points, followed by Braeden Lue who finished with 17 points,
The story of the day however, was stolen by Ramone Seals. The freshman has been out of the rotation for a majority of the season, but finished with 13 points on an efficient 5-6 shooting.
“I didn’t really know I was going to be playing any major minutes,” Seals said. “But coach (Pettway) always talks about unwavering belief — so I just stay ready for when my number is called.”
