Owls Flying High: A Promotion / Relegation Dynasty

[jksander]

February 3, 2022
Bryant (10-10, 5-4) @ Kennesaw State (6-14, 6-3)

Longwood stumped Chicago State in their last game, allowing Houston and Tennessee-Martin to move up to a three-way tie for first with the former solo leaders, at 7-2 each. We, meanwhile, have now moved into a two-way tie for fourth with the Lancers at 6-3 apiece, firmly in the race for promotion! And with our win against the Lancers, we get the tiebreaker in the end, which could prove critical.

We started slow in this one, letting Bryant lead 9-12 with 13:58 remaining, though we finally tied things up 21-21 with 10:05 to go in the half. Bryant did a good job of shutting down our offensive strategies, however, and with 6:33 remaining in the half we were in a 23-29 hole of our own making. We battled back however, and with a Ragin jumper at the 4:19 mark we took the lead back 30-29! A back and forth battle from there, we held tough to go into the break with the lead and our momentum intact. Halftime: Bryant 36, Kennesaw State 39.

Bryant briefly fought to within four, but we shut them down and built our lead to 11, up 53-42, with 15:39 to play in the game and we dominated from there. It never again was close, as we streamrolled our way to an 84-64 victory!

Player of the Game: Shane Ross (25 pts 8 reb 2 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Larue Ragin (25 pts 8 reb 1 ast 1 stl 1 blk) Chris Snyder (17 pts 2 reb 3 ast)

[jksander]

February 7, 2022
Kennesaw State (7-14, 7-3) @ Tennessee-Martin (12-9, 7-3)

This was our last chance to make a statement against a top-tier opponent in the conference, as the remainder of our schedule is against the middle and bottom of the table. It is all the more important because, right now, we're in a four-way tie for second with the Skyhawks, as Houston Baptist (8-2) moved up alone into first – and we DON'T have a tiebreaker against the Huskies if we end up knotted.

We came out fired up and caught the Skyhawks completely off guard, running out to a 13-3 lead with 14:47 to play in the half! Our relentless defense exposed them and Chris Snyder had an incredibly hot hand all half, leading us to a 43-20 halftime advantage. And unlike the Houston Baptist debacle, we did not let them back in this one, building our lead to 20 five minutes in and coasting to victory 83-57.

Player of the Game: Chris Snyder (30 pts 5 reb 4 ast 1 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Brandon Manley (7 pts 13 ast 4 reb 1 blk) Larue Ragin (11 pts 10 reb 2 ast)

[jksander]

February 8, 2022
From worst to (a share of) first place in Conference “V”, Coach Valvano should be on his way to conference Coach of the Year honors if his team can continue to gel the way they have over the last few weeks. Led by a stalwart bunch of seniors who endured the most adversity of anyone during a 13-game losing streak (18 games if you count all the way back to last season), the Owls have won eight of their last nine games and positioned themselves to be promoted if they can get through these last five games and the conference tournament without much damage. And players who have been previously looking lost and uninspired are now stepping up as the team, in conference play at least, has come to look almost unbeatable! After a great deal of questioning, it is becoming clear that Coach Valvano never lost faith in his players, and they'll now follow him into Hell and back.

[jksander]

February 10, 2022
Kennesaw State (8-14, 8-3) @ California Baptist (9-13, 4-7)

We led 23-9 against the Lancers with 11:42 to play in the half, but Cal Baptist fought back to within four, down 31-27 at the 3:45 mark, and with 1:09 to go we were knotted 33-33. They stunned us by taking the lead at the buzzer, and we had some self-assessing to do in the second half. Halftime: Kennesaw State 35, California Baptist 37.

We retook the lead 42-39 off a Ross dunk and follow-up free-throw, and when Cal Baptist got foul-happy, we kept hitting our free throws and built a 47-43 lead with 15:08 to play. A Snyder three broke it wide again as we led 57-46 with 11:02 remaining and three of the Lancers' top players already in foul trouble. But despite that, they fought back and kept this close via a stunning 12-0 run that put them ahead 57-58 with just 7:46 remaining! We were suddenly the ones on the ropes. A Ross dunk put us back on top 63-61 with 5:58 to go and the game remained nail-bitingly close from there. Snyder hit a deuce with 3:01 to go making it a 71-67 margin and that finally broke their backs. We'd go on to win this one 86-70, but it was far closer than it looked until those final moments.

Finally we proved we can win a closely contested game without crumbling down the stretch!

Player of the Game: Chris Snyder (23 pts 7 reb 2 ast 2 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Larue Ragin (23 pts 5 reb 2 ast 2 stl 1 blk) Shane Ross (17 pts 6 reb 4 ast 2 blk)

[jksander]

February 14, 2022
North Alabama (6-17, 3-9) @ Kennesaw State (9-14, 9-3)

Back at home in front of about 3,400 crazy Owls fans, we built a 14-2 lead on North Alabama with 15:25 to go, and with ten minutes left we'd built a solid 30-14 advantage. By halftime we had them hung out to dry 57-35. From there it was a by-the-numbers beat-down, winning 107-63.

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (23 pts 10 reb 3 ast 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Shane Ross (25 pts 6 reb 1 ast 1 blk) Chris Snyder (23 pts 3 reb 1 ast 1 stl)

[jksander]

February 17, 2022
Omaha (6-5, 5-8) @ Kennesaw State (10-14, 10-3)

They beat us by over 20 in our first conference game of the season, but this is a whole new team now and we're on our court now. They stuck with us early but never looked sharp, and we held a 20-17 lead on the Mavericks with 11:48 to play in the half. We dominated from there, leading 50-33 at the half and they never made it even close from there. We won handily 88-63.

Player of the Game: Shane Ross (37 pts 7 reb 4 ast 1 stl 4 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Chris Snyder (20 pts 6 reb 2 ast 2 blk) Larue Ragin (14 pts 9 reb 4 stl 4 blk)

[jksander]

February 21, 2022
Kennesaw State (11-14, 11-3) @ Central Arkansas (13-12, 10-4)

Central Arkansas has surged into a tie for 3rd, while we're in a tie with Longwood in 1st! So this game proves to be potentially more critical than we'd expected when it comes to how things look heading into the conference tourney. They beat us by 18 at home, so we've got to come out strong and show them what we showed Omaha the other night, and we'll be able to breathe easier about moving up next season.

In the first five minutes we broke out to an 18-9 lead, but the Bears battled back to retake the lead 24-25 with 10:54 remaining in what was becoming a shootout! They led by as many as six before we battled back and tied it 38-38 with 4:01 to go in the half. A pair of free-throws by Snyder put us back ahead 43-41, and we shot the lights out down the stretch to lead by eight at the half. Halftime: Kennesaw State 53, Central Arkansas 45.

We opened the second half on a 10-2 run in the first four minutes, and from there Central Arkansas never stood a chance. We flattened the bears easily in the end 94-67. Longwood lost their game this evening, which leaves us alone atop the conference, and with only one game left it is impossible for us to fall outside the top three – promotion to Conference “U” next year is assured!

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (30 pts 11 reb 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Shane Ross (21 pts 11 reb 2 stl 2 blk) Chris Snyder (20 pts 9 reb 3 ast 3 stl)

[jksander]

February 24, 2022
Kennesaw State (12-14, 12-3) @ SC Upstate (5-21, 3-12)

SC Upstate at this point is playing for pride, as they can't possibly make it out of the bottom four to qualify for the conference tournament. We started slowly but their offense wasn't up to the fight and we led 23-16 with 5:46 to go in the half. But they kept it close and by halftime we were only up by three with a lot of time yet to play. Halftime: Kennesaw State 29, SC Upstate 26.

They pulled briefly within three but Ross scored four quick points including a flashy dunk and we were back up 39-32 with 14:56 to play, and we were fully in charge from there. We'd go on to win 77-55, capping a 10-game winning streak as we head into the conference tournament!

Player of the Game: Shane Ross (20 pts 7 reb 1 ast 1 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Chris Snyder (17 pts 4 reb 1 ast 2 blk) Larue Ragin (12 pts 14 reb 3 ast 2 blk)

As it stands, our team, Longwood and Chicago State are set to be promoted, and the 4th spot will be filled by either Central Arkansas or the winner of the conference tournament if they're not already on this list.

Conference “V” Standings
(01) Kennesaw State (13-3, 13-14) – RPI: 200
(02) Longwood (12-4, 21-6) – RPI: 36
(03) Chicago State (11-5, 19-8) – RPI: 104
(04) Central Arkansas (11-5, 14-13) – RPI: 232
(05) Tennessee-Martin (11-5, 16-11) – RPI: 173
(06) Houston Baptist (10-6, 16-11) – RPI: 130
(07) Massachusetts-Lowell (9-7, 16-11) – RPI: 76
(08) Presbyterian (8-8, 13-14) – RPI: 184
(09) Bryant (8-8, 13-14) – RPI: 189
(10) Incarnate Word (8-8, 9-18) – RPI: 297
(11) California Baptist (7-9, 12-15) – RPI: 239
(12) Stony Brook (7-9, 13-14) – RPI: 251
(13) Omaha (5-11, 9-18) – RPI: 284
(14) North Alabama (3-13, 6-21) – RPI: 331
(15) SC Upstate (3-13, 5-22) – RPI: 345
(16) Abilene Christian (2-14, 5-22) – RPI: 352

[jksander]

March 1, 2022
In the first round of the conference tournament:

(8) Presbyterian 74, (9) Bryant 75
(5) Tennessee-Martin 63, (12) Stony Brook 80
(6) Houston Baptist 77, (11) Cal Baptist 69
(7) Massachusetts-Lowell 87, (10) Incarnate Word 80

March 2, 2022
Conference “V” Quarterfinals
(9) Bryant (13-14) @ (1) Kennesaw State (13-14)

We built an early 22-12 lead on the Bulldogs with 9:41 to go in the half and by the time we reached the break we still led convincingly 44-36, having seen no real signs that the Bulldogs were capable of fighting back once in a hole. But they came out strong in the second half, took a lead 47-49 with 16:19 to play in the game, and they suddenly had our attention. We traded leads from there and were knotted 56-56 with 11:33 remaining. Chris Earl put us up with a triple from deep moments later, and with 7:29 to go we were still up 68-65. and with 3:51 remaining we'd built our lead up to 10, tying the largest lead we'd had all night. We held tough from there to win this one 88-79, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (21 pts 9 reb 2 ast 2 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Shane Ross (24 pts 6 reb 1 blk) Chris Snyder (19 pts 4 reb 2 ast 2 stl 2 blk)

Elsewhere in the tourney:

(4) Central Arkansas 66, (12) Stony Brook 81
(6) Houston Baptist 80, (3) Chicago State 65
(7) Massachusetts-Lowell 69, (2) Longwood 99

[jksander]

March 3, 2022
Conference “V” Semifinals
(12) Stony Brook (15-14) @ (1) Kennesaw State (14-14)

We faced off against Stony Brook in the night's opening Quarterfinal matchup, and they fought hard not to be eliminated early on though we still led 16-14 with 12:21 to play in the half. But we broke away as the game played on, building a 26-16 lead on them with 7:12 remaining, and by halftime we were well ahead 39-23. The second half was a defensive slugfest early, but we held our ground and our 47-35 lead at the twelve minute mark. We dominated down the stretch and shut them down to win 76-65. Not always a pretty game to watch, but it got us to the title game!

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (16 pts 7 reb 1 stl 3 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Chris Snyder (16 pts 5 reb 3 ast 1 stl) Shane Ross (15 pts 5 reb 2 ast 5 stl)

(6) Houston Baptist (18-11) @ (2) Longwood (22-6)

Half an hour after our game ended, this one got underway and it was a highly anticipated matchup of two teams which had played well all year, only separated by a couple conference losses. Longwood led from the start, but Houston Baptist kept this one interesting. Longwood led 18-16 with 12:31 to go in the half, but the Huskies crumbled late and Longwood ran with it to a blowout 48-32 halftime lead.

Houston Baptist fought back in the second half, however, pulling to within a 49-51 margin with over 13 minutes remaining in the game. They made it a one point game, down 55-56 with 9:43 left, and the Huskies' star player, Tayshaun Price, nailed a triple to give them the lead 58-56 seconds later. From there the Huskies ran away with it, building a 73-63 lead with 5:43 to go, cruising from there to stun the Lancers 83-75 and setting up a rematch with us for the championship game. Twelve wins in a row and the tournament comes down to that last loss, 78-80, against the Huskies.

Houston Baptist Player of the Game: Casey Hall (18 pts 5 reb 2 ast 1 stl 4 blk)
Longwood Player of the Game: Eric Morris (26 pts 7 reb 1 ast 1 stl)