By: By Brandon Scardigli
INTERVIEW | PHOTO GALLERY | BOX SCORE (XML) | BOX SCORE (PDF)
KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State men's basketball team opened its 2013-14 season with a 73-57 loss to Horizon League opponent Youngstown State on Friday, starting off the KSU Men's Basketball Tournament for both squads.
Delbert Love led the Owls, who start the season off at 0-1, with 13 points including nine from beyond the arc to go with his team-high three assists.
"I want to give Youngstown State credit; we let them play their game," said Kennesaw State head coach
Lewis Preston. "We knew we needed to beat them in transition and they came out and got 17 fast break points. The most important thing is there was a 6-7 minute stretch in the second half where we came out and played our brand of basketball, we just had ourselves in a hole that was too deep. We'll be back out and at it again tomorrow."
After Youngstown State (1-0) started off the game with a seven-point lead at 12-7, the Owls went on a 6-0 run midway through the first half after back-to-back field goals from
Bernard Morena and a layup from
Willy Kouassi to set the score at 12-11 Penguins.
The Penguins then went up by as many as 16 points before KSU dropped the lead back down to single digits over the next two minutes on Love's first triple of the game followed by four straight free throws from the Owls to make it 28-19 YSU with 2:15 to go.
Youngstown then went into the half with a 34-21 lead.
KSU kept pace with the Penguins in the second half, dropping the lead down to 13 points on three separate occasions in the second, led by Orlando Coleman's 10-point effort in the final 20 minutes as Youngstown went on to win it, 73-57.
Despite the Penguins holding onto their double-figure lead, the Owls played a much more competitive half, scoring 36 points to YSU's 39.
Love was one of three Owls to finish up in double-digits along with Morena's 12 points and Coleman's 10, all three putting in four field goals.
Morena went on to lead the Owls in rebounds with his six while Coleman and
Willy Kouassi finished up with five each.
Guard
Yonel Brown had a nice stat line as well, putting in nine points to go with his three assists and two steals.
The Owls will continue their four day, four game start to the season on Saturday as KSU welcomes in Eastern Kentucky for a 5:30 p.m. ET match.
Eastern Kentucky 83, Florida International 61
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. – Senior guard Glenn Cosey scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Colonels to a season-opening victory over Florida International during Friday's opener of the Kennesaw State Tournament at the KSU Convocation Center.
Cosey was joined in double figures by Marus Lewis (16), Orlando Williams (14) and Corey Walden (11). The quartet helped Eastern Kentucky to a 49.1 percent (26-for-53) from the field.
Florida International (0-1) was led by senior forward Tymell Murphy (14 points, 10 rebounds) and senior forward Rakeem Buckles (13 points, 12 rebounds) who recorded double-doubles. Senior guard Raymond Taylor added 11 points and three assists for the Panthers.
Eastern Kentucky is back in action on Saturday when it takes on host Kennesaw State at 5:30 p.m. Florida International will face Youngstown State at 3 p.m.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State men's basketball news follow the team on Twitter
@KSUOwlNation and
@KSUOwlsMBB or by liking Kennesaw State University on
Facebook.
Season tickets are currently available for all the home court action for the Owls and can be purchased by following the link here.
-#GoKSUOwls-
