#5 Simeon Cottle shoots from beyond the three-point line against Jackson State at VyStar Arena on Dec. 2. Photo courtesy of KSU Athletics.
Simeon Cottle and Frankquon Sherman combined for 44 points in men’s basketball’s 88-73 win over Jackson State on Tuesday at VyStar Arena.
Following the Coconut Hoops multi-team event held in Fort Myers, Florida in which they had won two of three contests, the Owls returned to Kennesaw to kick off a three-game homestand against Jackson State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Kennesaw State stumbled early, falling into a 16-7 hole with 13:29 remaining in the first half.
A 23-2 run led by Cottle helped the Owls not only take the lead, but build a first half cushion at 30-18 with 5:16 to play in the opening frame.
Each side traded baskets for the remainder of the first half, with KSU never building a lead greater than 15.
RJ Johnson’s buzzer-beating heave got a lucky bounce and fell, giving the Owls a 46-32 advantage at the break.
The second 20 minutes didn’t leave much up to question, as the Tigers failed to draw within single digits again — the closest time being a Mike Williams layup that cut the JSU deficit to 74-63.
Cottle continued his hot scoring streak, finishing with a game-high 28 points while shooting 9-of-19 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
Cottle credited the improvement to developing his strength in the offseason rather than a change in approach.
“It wasn’t really anything I did to improve my scoring in the offseason,” Cottle said. “I focused more on building a stronger base and a solid base for me to be able to bump defenders or get more space to create shots. It’s more about what I can do outside of scoring, getting stronger and making sure my balance and everything is right.”
A curious development on Tuesday was Sherman playing significant minutes at the center position, partly due to the absence of Perry Smith Jr. who is currently away from the team due to family health issues.
Sherman finished with one of the best outings of his college career, posting a season-high 16 points and career-high 12 rebounds to log his fifth career double-double.
“Really [I’m] just doing whatever the team needs,” Sherman said. “If they need me to play the five, I’ll play the five, but we had to go smaller tonight so it was just something I needed to step up in.”
Braedan Lue and Amir Taylor each also saw time at the position, with Taylor getting the start. The pair struggled offensively, combining for just five points on 2-of-7 shooting.
JSU, who had played through a brutal non-conference schedule including four high-major opponents, all of which were ranked, brought a strong physical presence throughout the night by consistently forcing jump balls and diving after loose balls.
“We knew that it was going to be a physical game coming in based off the teams they’ve played, throughout their schedule they’ve been playing a lot of tough opponents,” Cottle said. “We just didn’t want them to come in thinking that we were the underdog just because we weren’t a high-major.”
