The Kennesaw State men’s basketball team fell behind early and couldn’t overcome the deficit in a 75-67 loss to The New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday.
It was the first ever meeting between the programs, as the Highlanders continue through their first season in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Early on, the shots weren’t falling for the Owls. KSU guard Yonel Brown started the game missing his first six shots from beyond the arc, while NJIT was on fire. The Highlanders started hot, going on a 7-0 run before KSU scored its first bucket five minutes into the game.
Turnovers and bad shot selection continued to plague the Owls early, as NJIT jumped out to a 20-6 lead behind great defensive play and three three-pointers from guard Chris Jenkins.
“They are going to shoot … that’s who they are,” Kennesaw State head coach Al Skinner said. “We weren’t very alert to those opportunities and, because of that, they made a lot of shots in the first half. In order for us to be successful, the real key for us is to have better assists-to-turnovers, and we didn’t have that. We have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball.”
The Highlanders continued to use their length to their advantage and built the lead up to as many as 19. They led 29-10 midway through the first half and the game seemed all but over.
After a timeout the Owls came out inspired. Their defensive intensity skyrocketed, as they forced steals and made huge blocks, with one steal leading to a Kosta Jankovic three-pointer, cutting the deficit to 29-15.
KSU scoring sensations Kendrick Ray and Yonel Brown continued to struggle finding open shots, but the Owls bench stepped up in the run, as forward Nigel Pruitt hit a three-pointer as well to cut the Highlander lead to 29-22.
“Guys came off the bench and gave us a lift that allowed us to come back and get within two,” Skinner said. “It’s always going to be a team effort.”
The Owls stormed back to end the first half on a 19-5 run and trailed 34-29 at halftime.
Both teams opened the second half looking to regroup from a poor shooting performances. NJIT scoring machine, Damon Lynn, who came into the game averaging 18.3 points per game for his career, was held in check in the first half, but came out firing in the second half.
He hit a deep three-pointer to start the half that gave NJIT a 39-31 lead, but KSU answered right back with its own three-pointer from Brown. The game went back and forth, as the combination of Brown and Ray began to click for the Owls. KSU got as close as two points after Ray made his first three-pointer of the game, followed by a turnover and fadeaway jumper by Ray to cut the deficit to 43-41 with 14:33 remaining.
Ray finished the game with 15 points and went 3-5 from beyond the arc. Brown finished with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists, which were all team highs.
The Owls defense continued to give the Highlanders problems, forcing them into low-percentage shots and forcing turnovers.
NJIT began setting screens to find open shots for Lynn, as he hit an extremely deep three-pointer to beat the shot-clock buzzer that stole away all of the Owls’ momentum.
Lynn finished with a game-high 22 points.
“He’s a perimeter shooter and we just wanted to put ourselves in position to contest his shots,” Skinner said about the shooting of Lynn. “We tried to take away the perimeter shots, but obviously the biggest one was the shot clock. We had come back and had momentum and that was the one that saved the game for them.”
The Owls began to wear down, as the Highlanders hit two more threes and increased their lead back to double-digits. They trailed 64-54 with 3:06 remaining.
KSU continued to fight, but the shots weren’t falling and NJIT was excellent from the free throw line; a place where KSU severely struggled. The Owls were 8-16 from the charity stripe. The Highlanders finished the game making 15 of their final 18 free throws and made 23 of 29 overall to seal the game.
