KSU’s men’s basketball team dropped its first home conference game Saturday to the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, 71-55.
The loss marked the Owls’ eighth straight loss as they moved to 3-13 overall and 0-3 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Assistant head coach Jimmy Lallathin called the shots in the absence of Lewis Preston.
The Owls came out tough from the tip-off. KSU traded the lead with the Bucs six times in the first half and showed dominance in the paint along with scrappy defense. The Owls presence in the paint kept them in the game through the first 20 minutes as they out-rebounded ETSU 18-15 and had 16 points in the paint, compared to the Bucs eight.
“I thought our post guys, early on, brought great energy; the 50-50 balls, the plays we haven’t been making, we were making,” Lallathin said.
Orlando Coleman led the Owls in scoring with nine points. Nate Rucker and Nigel Pruitt each had six points and combined for seven rebounds. KSU limited the amount of three’s attempted, going 3 for 10 from beyond the arch, and was perfect from the free-throw line going 7 for 7.
Nearing the half, however, ETSU went on a 10-4 scoring run supported by KSU turnovers inside of three minutes. That saw the Bucs take the lead into the half at 40-32.
The second half began in similar fashion to how the first half concluded. KSU conceded a 10 point run by ETSU and didn’t score until 16:16 remaining by way of a Bernard Morena 3-pointer. The Bucs shot 57 percent from the field and were able to extend their lead to as much as 21 in the second half. Rashawn Rembert and A.J. Merriweather both had 19 points for ETSU and were perfect from 3-point territory, sinking a combined 5 for 5.
“When they (ETSU) started to make their run off of turnovers, it was passing over the top. They’re long and they were able to get hands on the basketball,” Lallathin said. KSU’s ball security was a major factor in the team’s falling behind. The Owls coughed up the ball 13 times in the second half after only surrendering six turnovers in the first half.
Charlie Byers was the only positive note for the Owls in the second half as he provided a huge spark off the bench, leading the attempted comeback by KSU. Byers scored eight points in only 12 minutes of action. KSU cut ETSU’s lead to 12 at the 10 minute mark, but the duo of Rembert and Merriweather proved to be too much for the Owls.
Afterwards interim head coach Lallathin was encouraged by the team’s performance stating, “We gave 40 minutes of great effort; we gave 32 minutes of great execution, and we need to get that 32 minutes up closer to 40 but I thought our guys played hard.”
