Jeff Schultz AJC Blog
MACON, Ga. – Kennesaw State stands just two wins away from an historic trip to the NCAA National Tournament. However, before they make any plans for a trip to the Big Dance, the Owls have to take care of the business at hand, and that means tackling ETSU in Friday night’s semifinal.
Kennesaw State (13-19) will look to make its third meeting with ETSU a charm, as they search for their first win over the No. 5-seed Buccaneers this season. East Tennessee State won both meetings with the Black and Gold, taking a 63-46 decision at Kennesaw State, and also earned a 66-45 win in Johnson City.
To earn a spot in the semifinals, the Owls knocked off top-seed Lipscomb on Wednesday afternoon and now must pull off another upset as they face a Buccaneers team that overcame a four-point halftime deficit to top the No. 4-seed Campbell, 72-64.
The match up between the owls and the Buccaneers marks the first time since 2003 that two lower seeds pulled off upsets in the quarterfinals. Then A-Sun members Georgia State (No. 7-seed) and No. 5 Central Florida (No. 5-seed) advanced out of the first round with wins over Belmont and Jacksonville State respectively.
Three-point shooting was the key in the Owls victory over Lipscomb. Sophomore Kurtis Woods (19 points) and junior Kelvin McConnell (14 points) combined to go 9-for-11 from long-range to lift Kennesaw State to its second win over Lipscomb this season. Woods shot 5-for-7 from three-point range while McConnell was a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown.
The Buccaneers (18-14) will be playing in their fourth consecutive conference semifinal as they advanced on the heels of a 51-point second half and a career-high 32-points from Micah Williams, who became the third player in the last four ETSU tournament games to top the 30-point mark.
The key for Kennesaw State will be shooting, and getting off to a fast start. The Owls have shot 30.8 percent and 32.1 percent in two meetings with the Buccaneers. They have also led for a total of just 1:13 in the two games, trailing at halftime by an average of 16.5 points, ironically the same number of points they have averaged in the first half.
In the second meeting between the teams, Kennesaw State was able to reverse the rebounding trend. After being out-rebounded, 42-35, in the first meeting, the Owls grabbed three more rebounds than the Bucs (42-39) in the second meeting.
East Tennessee State has won eight of the nine previous meetings with the Owls. Kennesaw State won the first-ever meeting between the teams in 2005-06, but ETSU has won the eight games since.
Tip-off for Friday night’s first semifinal is set for 6:30 p.m. and can be heard live on 920 am WGKA as well as on-line at www.920WGKA.com. Craig Corbin, play-by-play, and Scott Webb, color analyst, will call the action beginning with the Peachtree Orthopedic Clinic Pregame Show beginning at 6:00 p.m.