The Kennesaw State men’s basketball team survived a furious Spartans’ comeback on Wednesday night as it picked up its first road win of the season, taking down South Carolina Upstate 78-75 at The Hodge.
“Overall, it was a nice team effort and a lot of different people contributed to this win.” Kennesaw State head coach Al Skinner said about the victory.
The Owls (6-16, 2-4) never trailed in the win. Forward Jordan Jones scored the first points of the game, and KSU jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and found its success early versus the Spartans stretched zone defense.
Upstate was cold in the first half, as it missed its first 10 three-pointers of the game, but were able to keep it close due to the play of center Michael Buchanan, who finished with a team-high 17 points and 12 rebounds.
“We defended him the best we could,” Skinner said. “But it was the three-point plays that were the problem and allowed the lead to diminish.”
KSU did not have an answer for Buchanan early but made defensive adjustments and began to double-team him in the post. Physical defense from the Owls led to missed shots and multiple transition opportunities for the dynamic KSU duo of Yonel Brown and Kendrick Ray.
It was a calmer game for the combo of Ray and Brown as they combined for 36 points. They had combined for 56 and 51 points in their previous two games.
It was a sloppy first half as both teams struggled, shooting under 40 percent from the field and turning the ball over seven times each.
KSU guard Nick Masterson stopped the cold streak after a small Spartans run to extend the Owls’ lead to 34-23. The Owls took a 34-25 lead into the half.
“Because they played zone, our ball movement was pretty good and we got a lot of good looks, so we were happy with that,” Skinner said. “The guys who came off the bench did a solid job for us.”
The Owls came out of halftime firing on all cylinders as Brown and Ray combined to score 12 straight KSU points, extending its lead to 46-29.
Ray led all players with 23 points and six assists, while Brown struggled to find his touch. He shot 1-6 from beyond the arc and finished the game with 13 points and five rebounds.
KSU continued to play outstanding defense, forcing Upstate into uncomfortable and contested shots. The Owls held the Spartans to just 23.8 percent from beyond the arc on 21 attempts for the game.
“They weren’t getting into the shooting positions that they wanted to get in and that attributed to our defense not giving them the opportunities that they wanted,” Skinner said. “We got them off their spots and they had to shoot from different areas of the floor.”
After a few possessions of turnovers and missed field goals from both teams, Owls’ forward Bernard Moreno contributed with a layup assisted by a no-look pass from Ray. This gave the Owls their biggest lead of the game at 53-34 with 11:07 remaining in the game.
The Spartans then began to press which flustered KSU into untimely errors. The Owls’ lead was cut to 66-58 after a Buchanan and-one layup with 3:38 left. The eight-point lead was the smallest it had been since it was 31-23 late in the first half.
KSU freshman Kosta Jankovic seemed to seal the KSU victory hitting a three-pointer to increase the lead to 70-58, but the Spartans caught fire. Upstate guard Mike Cunningham hit a three-pointer to cut it to 70-63 with 1:58 left.
The Owls began to struggle from the free-throw line and couldn’t pull away as Upstate guard Deion Holmes hit a jump shot plus a foul. The free throw missed, but the Spartans grabbed the offensive rebound and added a layup to cut the lead to just four points with 1:03 remaining.
After a pair of Moreno free throws, Holmes sprinted down the court and hit another Spartans’ three-pointer to trim the lead back to four with 27.5 seconds left. Upstate continued to foul and the Owls continued to miss. Cunningham then hit another three for the Spartans to cut the lead to 77-75 with 6.6 seconds left.
Kendrick Ray then hit one of two free throws to give the Spartans one last chance to send the game into overtime.
Cunningham received the inbounds pass, sprinted down the court, received a great screen, and threw up the desperation three. The ball bounced off the back of the rim, giving the Owls the victory.
“Bernard came in late in the game and hit some clutch free throws, but we had some lapses on defense and we learned the lesson today,” Skinner said. “It was a good win for us. We did some good things and we continued to play the full 40 minutes, with a much improved defensive effort.”
The win snapped a four-game losing streak overall and a four-game losing streak to the Spartans. KSU will look to keep their momentum going this Saturday when NJIT comes to the Convocation Center.
