Owls Flying High: A Promotion / Relegation Dynasty

[jksander]

January 2, 2023
NJIT (7-4, 0-0) @ Kennesaw State (8-3, 0-0)

We controlled the Highlanders quickly from the start, leading 19-7 with 10:26 to play and at the half by a 40-22 margin. We held them back from there with strong overall defense and won our conference opener by a respectable 78-65 margin.

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (31 pts 11 reb 4 ast 1 stl 4 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Josh Griffin (18 pts 4 reb 1 stl) Damion Christie (7 pts 7 reb 4 blk)

January 5, 2023
Louisiana-Monroe (4-8, 1-0) @ Kennesaw State (9-3, 1-0)

We grounded the War Hawks early, building a 21-12 lead on them with 12:32 to play in the first half, and by halftime we'd completely put them away, leading 46-21. We held them off with strong defense and it was no contest from there, winning 82-52.

Player of the Game: Damion Christie (22 pts 7 reb 1 ast 3 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Larue Ragin (14 pts 14 reb 2 ast 2 stl 3 blk) Chris Earl (12 pts 5 reb 8 ast 1 stl)

[SouthernRebel]

quite a great season so far

[jksander]

quite a great season so far

Thanks, man I'm hoping it stays this way ... we're hoping to make the Big Dance this year, and with the big conferences so stacked with ranked teams, even a decent RPI would likely put us in the NIT unless we win most of our conference games and win the conference tournament.

[jksander]

January 9, 2023
Kennesaw State (10-3, 2-0) @ Marist (3-10, 0-2)

We led early against Marist, up 12-4 in the first few minutes, and though we kept the foxes at bay for the remainder of the half, we never really broke away. Up 39-34 at the break, we fought hard early to maintain our distance. Up 48-44 with 14:36 remaining, Marist knotted it 51-51 with 12:10 left on the clock, and we found ourselves in a real battle. We buckled down and scored the game's next six points, and with 8:53 remaining we led 61-56. But they kept it close, staying within a couple possessions, meaning we weren't going to coast in this one. Josh Griffin made it a 67-60 lead with 5:09 left, but with 1:28 to play we were only ahead by three, 71-68, and Marist was gunning for the upset. We shut them down in the final moments, however, and escaped with a 77-71 victory. On the road, you take what you can get!

Player of the Game: Damion Christie (17 pts 14 reb 2 ast 2 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Larue Ragin (10 pts 8 reb 2 ast 2 stl 2 blk) Reggie Lewis (17 pts 5 reb 2 ast)

January 12, 2023
Kennesaw State (11-3 (3-0) @ South Dakota (7-7, 2-1)

We took a while to find our mojo, having made it to South Dakota only an hour before the game thanks to a blizzard that was ebbing as we neared the airport. The Coyotes rushed out to a 10-0 lead but we fought back to trail 14-15 with 12:07 to play, and Reggie Lewis put us up 21-20 with 8;42 remaining. We went into halftime knotted 35-35, and we opened the half well in the face of stifling defense from the Coyotes, leading 43-40 with 14 minutes left on the clock. But we couldn't get South Dakota to fall out of this one, knotted 47-47 with 8:41 remaining. The rest of the half was rough and tumble – our guys clinging to a 59-58 lead thanks to a Griffin dunk on the fast break with 3:01 to go! We built our lead to four, our biggest of the game to that point, with just over two minutes left, but they knottted us again 63-63 with 66 seconds to play. And they won this one in regulation when they nailed an off-balance deuce at the buzzer. We took our first loss of the year in-conference, 65-67.

Player of the Game: Josh Griffin (20 pts 5 reb 3 ast 2 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Reggie Lewis (16 pts 8 reb 1 ast 1 blk) Larue Ragin (10 pts 4 reb 2 ast 2 stl)

[jksander]

January 16, 2023
Morehead State (2-13, 0-4) @ Kennesaw State (11-4, 3-1)

We dominated the early moments of the half, building a 14-2 lead on Morehead State with 12:29 to go in the first half. By halftime we'd grounded the Eagles 47-20, and though we don't have a ton of depth, our starters more than make up for it with their ability to bludgeon an opponent into submission. We went on to win this one easily, 80-53.

Player of the Game: Damion Christie (17 pts 8 reb 1 ast 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Josh Griffin (20 pts 8 reb 4 ast) Reggie Lewis (11 pts 8 reb 2 ast 2 blk)

January 19, 2023
Kennesaw State (12-4, 4-1) @ Houston Baptist (11-6, 4-1)

No one here takes Houston Baptist lightly – they've been our nemesis over the last year or so, and we came into this game knowing we needed to give it our all. We led 12-9 over the Huskies with 16:09 to play in the first half, and though it stayed close we were still ahead 21-17 with 11:41 remaining. Knotted 27-27 with 7:13 to play, we dug in for the first-half stretch but went into an ill-timed scoring drought that Houston Baptist took advantage of. We trailed by as many as eight late, but went into the half down by just four. Halftime: Kennesaw State 40, Houston Baptist 44.

Chris Earl nailed an early three to pull us within two in the first 90 seconds of the half, and a pair of Josh Griffin free throws gave us the lead back 52-51 with 15:57 remaining. We spent the next stretch working to build and hold the lead, keeping Houston Baptist at bay 61-56 with 11:07 left in what was proving to be another classic. We played solid fundamental basketball and were able to slowly build our lead, up nine with 8:16 to play, and with 6:49 to go we were up 78-63 and firmly in control. We won this one with ease down the stretch 93-76.

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (27 pts 11 reb 3 ast 2 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Damion Christie (21 pts 1 reb 1 stl) Reggie Lewis (14 pts 4 reb 3 ast 1 blk)

[jksander]

January 23, 2023
Delaware State (9-8, 5-1) @ Kennesaw State (13-4, 5-1)

We led from the start but Delaware State stayed in the game, trailing us 16-14 with 11:31 to go in the first half, and then they knotted it 18-18 with 9:18 to play. And after a half dozen lead changes Delaware State took charge, rushing out to a 41-50 lead on us at the break. We battled back to tie it 55-55 on a Damion Christie jumper with 13:57 to play, and a pair of Ragin free throws gave us back the lead 61-59 with 11:31 to go, and a 10-2 run over the next four minutes put us back in the driver's seat. Josh Griffin kept us in control of this one with a career game, and we remained undefeated at home by winning this one 92-74.

Player of the Game: Josh Griffin (36 pts 9 reb 3 ast 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Larue Ragin (21 pts 7 reb 2 stl 1 blk) Chris Earl (7 pts 3 reb 6 ast 1 stl 1 blk)

January 26, 2023
Kennesaw State (14-4, 6-1) @ Longwood (13-5, 6-1)

We're in a three-way tie for first in the conference with Longwood and South Dakota, and since we've already lost our matchup against South Dakota, our best way to secure a continued spot atop the conference is to beat Longwood, controlling what portion of our own destiny we can.

We came out swinging against the Lancers, leading 10-5 in the first two minutes of the game, at which point our defense kicked in allowing us to slow the pace and expand that lead, up 21-10 with 12:26 remaining. Longwood kept it close enough to stay in the game, but at the half we were up 36-30 and had dominated the game defensively. We played well to start the second half, rebuilding our lead to 49-39 with 13:57 to go in the game, but the Lancers fought back down the stretch, cutting our lead to two, up 56-54 with 7:54 remaining. A flurry of lead changes ensued, but we were still knotted 68-68 with just 2:53 left on the clock. A Reggie Lewis fast-break dunk put us ahead 71-68 with :43 left to play, but they quickly tied it with a three pointer and :26 remaining. That's where it stayed heading into overtime. Regulation: Kennesaw State 71, Longwood 71.

Longwood got out to a fast start in OT, building a 71-75 lead from which we had to dig out of. With 1:58 left in the period we pulled within two, down 75-77, on a Griffin deuce that rolled in off the iron, and he followed up seconds later with a thunderous dunk! Suddenly we were back to the 77-77 tie and had 1:41 to play … an eternity. Reggie Lewis put us back on top 79-77 with :59 left, but Longwood was still fighting, tying us up with :25 to play. And we'd remain there at the buzzer, forcing a second overtime! End of OT1: Kennesaw State 79, Longwood 79.

Longwood again rushed out to a quick five-point lead, but Reggie Lewis nailed a triple to pull us within two, down 82-84 with 2:49 remaining! A Josh Griffin three made it 85-86 with 2:23 to go, and with :53 left on the clock we pulled ahead 87-86 on a Lewis jumper. A pair of Karim Knight free throws made it an 89-86 lead with just :30 left, and we held tough from there to win this one 91-88 in double overtime!

Player of the Game: Reggie Lewis (20 pts 9 reb 3 ast 3 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Larue Ragin (18 pts 9 reb 2 ast 3 blk) Chris Earl (19 pts 2 reb 3 ast 2 stl)

[Wayne23]

Great win!

[jksander]

Great win!

Yes, it was! I was so convinced they'd nail a triple at the end of 2OT and force a third

I'm back at work at my "essential" job at Culver's, so this game gets fit into my free time ... you might see marathon posts on the weekend, but during the week I'm lucky to squeeze in a game or two at a time

[jksander]

January 30, 2023
Florida Gulf Coast (6-13, 4-4) @ Kennesaw State (15-4, 7-1)

We got out to an early lead on FGCU, leading 18-8 with 11:32 to go in the half and by the time we reached the break we had a decisive 49-21 lead on the Eagles. We dominated the remainder, winning this one 90-62.

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (20 pts 9 reb 3 ast 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Chris Earl (12 pts 2 reb 11 ast 1 blk) Damion Christie (12 pts 7 reb 1 ast)

February 2, 2023
Kennesaw State (16-4, 8-1) @ Maine (12-8, 6-3)

This one was a back and forth battle early, with the teams knotted 15-15 with 12:10 to go in the half. The Black Bears led by as many as five late in the half, but we held a 35-34 advantage with 3:52 to play thanks to a Granberry fast-break dunk, and at the break we led by a deuce following 12 ties and 21 lead changes. Halftime: Kennesaw State 42, Maine 40.

Chris Earl broke the scoreless stretch early in the second half with a brilliant three that built our lead to 45-40 with 16:50 to play. Two minutes later we led this one by 11 and Maine was falling apart. We went on to win this one with relative ease, putting the Bears down 83-61 in the end.

Incidentally, I'm told this win gets me back to .500 as a head coach! Onward and upward, I say.

Player of the Game: Larue Ragin (24 pts 8 reb 2 ast)
Honorable Mentions: Chris Earl (14 pts 6 ast 1 stl 1 blk) Josh Griffin (11 pts 4 reb 1 ast 2 stl)

[PointGuard]

January 9, 2023
Kennesaw State (10-3, 2-0) @ Marist (3-10, 0-2)

kept the foxes at bay [/b]

HA! Good one!

But I thought after your team got beat by the South Dakota Coyotes, you'd say...

"When the game ended, the Coyotes were howling".

But more importantly, congrats on going back to work. But don't you get a lunch break and a morning and afternoon break? That should be enough time to fit in completing at least 3 games so you keep feeding us regularly. We get grumpy otherwise.