#11 RJ Johnson dribbles through defenders in the first half against MTSU on Feb. 12 at VyStar Arena. Photo by: Jackson Louneoubonh
Four scorers in double figures wasn’t enough for men’s basketball to overcome Middle Tennessee State’s efficiency in a 90-87 loss Thursday at VyStar Arena.
With 8.4 seconds remaining on the clock and trailing 90-87, the Owls found themselves with a final opportunity to send Thursday’s game into overtime. RJ Johnson brought the ball up the court and was denied clean looks to the two best shooters on the floor in Trey Simpson and Jaden Harris, leading to him forcing up an off-balance look at the buzzer, which missed the rim entirely.
The loss is the first for the Kennesaw State at home since Nov. 16.
In the continuation of a season defined by injuries and unfortunate events, KSU found itself missing another rotational guard on Thursday night as freshman Darius Washington III was unable to play due to a head injury.
With just three healthy scholarship guards and bench forward Amir Taylor limited while working himself back from concussion protocol, the Owls ran a seven-man rotation in the first half, and primarily six-man rotation in the second half.
“That’s kind of what we have, no excuses, but we got what we have,” KSU coach Antoine Pettway said. “We got those three guards, they’re very talented, but sometimes, you know, they may run out of gas here and there, but I think we’re going to be fine. We’ll get [Washington III] hopefully soon and then we’ll have four guards.”
Despite the Blue Raiders shooting a gaudy 65.2% in the first half, the Owls held a 49-45 lead at halftime while Johnson and Braedan Lue combined for 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field.
The second half featured an unyielding back-and-forth, with 11 lead changes in the closing 20 minutes.
The Owls shot a serviceable 43.8% from the field, but struggled at the line (7-of-12) and from behind the arc (3-of-12), failing to overcome an unrelenting MTSU offense which put up another 45 points in the second half.
“Tough battle tonight,” Pettway said. “I know we didn’t come up on the right end of it, but I thought the guys competed. I think our defense failed us tonight. As you can see, that’s why we lost the game. We got to get back to defending and rebounding the ball. [This was] the second straight game we’ve gotten outrebounded. That’s not a characteristic normally of what we do.”
Lue led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, while Johnson followed not far behind with 21 points, Frankquon Sherman added 19 points and 10 rebounds and Simpson finished 12 points, all of which came from three.
For the Blue Raiders, Sean Smith led the way with 22 points while Torey Alston followed with 21 points.
Former Owl Marcus Whitlock made the most of his return to VyStar Arena, scoring 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 22 minutes.
