The Owls suffered a score-winning buzzer beater loss to the Knights in overtime.
Kennesaw State men’s basketball fell 96-95 at the buzzer in overtime to the Bellarmine Knights on Thursday night at the Convocation Center, extending its losing streak to three games.
The Owls failed to right the ship against a Bellarmine team that was sitting at 11th in the Atlantic Sun with a record of 1-6 in the conference. Although Guard Quincy Ademekoya‘s 20-point performance was impressive for the second-best scoring night of his collegiate career, it wasn’t enough to deliver a win.
The Owls stumbled out of the gate in the first half, allowing the Knights to take a 21-9 lead into the first media timeout. KSU would roar back with a 20-7 run led by Jamel King to take the first lead of the night at 29-28 with 7:04 to go in the first half.
The momentum would carry the Owls to a brief 43-36 lead following a three-pointer from fifth-year senior Demond Robinson before Bellarmine closed the half on a 9-0 run to take a two-point lead into the locker room.
Continuing a common trend for the season, the Owls came out slow in the second half, which allowed Bellarmine to jump out to a 60-52 lead eight minutes into the half.
For defensive reasons, Owls Head Coach Antoine Pettway opted to keep Robinson on the bench in favor of Forward Rongie Gordon for most of the second half. Gordon did not disappoint, putting up 11 points to go along with eight rebounds.
“Rongie did a great job guarding his guy,” Pettway said. “We needed somebody for us tonight to fight for post position and Rongie did a great job guarding the guy for the most part.”
All thanks to an offensive surge led by Guard Terrell Burden, KSU fought back to regain a 65-64 lead with over 10 minutes remaining.
Both sides traded leads throughout the rest of regulation and found themselves tied at 84-84 after a Burden free throw with barely a minute left of regulation.
Each team had multiple failed opportunities to take the lead in the final minute, sending the Owls to overtime for the first time since Dec. 5, 2023, against UNC-Asheville.
In the extra period, the Owls fell into a hole at 93-86 with under two minutes to play. A three-pointer off the glass from Ademekoya and four straight points from Guard Simeon Cottle tied the game up at 93-93.
Split trips to the line from both Gordon and Cottle put the Owls up 95-93 with seven seconds remaining.
After a Bellarmine timeout, Knights Guard Ben Johnson hit a three-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining to give Bellarmine a 96-95 victory.
“Very tough loss, I feel bad for our guys in the locker room,” Pettway said. “We got to do a better job of making free throws down the stretch, I look no further than that.”
The loss drops the Owls to 4-4 in conference play and 13-9 overall.
