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  • Kennsaw State Makes Program History As The Owls Down Top 25 Rutgers

Kennsaw State Makes Program History As The Owls Down Top 25 Rutgers

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Basketball

Kennesaw State men's basketball made history on Sunday afternoon, as behind a huge first half and a dominating performance on the boards the Owls pulled off the first win over a ranked team in school history with a 79-77 victory over No. 24 Rutgers in front of a sold out Convocation Center crowd.

Rutgers' (4-1) star freshmen in Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey came in with the national attention, but it was the KSU freshmen trio of Jamil Miller, Adrian Wooley and Braedan Lue that stole the show and helped the Owls improve to 5-1 for the first time in school history. Wooley capping the game by stealing a pass from Bailey in the final seconds to secure the two-point win. The victory was just the second-ever for KSU over a Power Five team.

STAT OF THE GAME: KSU kept up its strong play on the boards, as the Owls dominated the boards with a +19 advantage (46-27). That helped KSU hold a 22-15 advantage on second chance points against the Big Ten squad.

OWL OF THE GAME: Miller came up big with his first career double-double off 16 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, while going 6-of-7 from the floor.

THE FIRST HALF: Rutgers started out with an early 9-4 edge with seven points coming from the Bailey-Harper duo. The Owls showed their team balance though by going on a 9-0 run off four baskets from four different players. Miller's trey at 11-9 gave KSU a lead they would never relinquish, while Ricardo Wright drained a jumper for a 13-9 lead at the 11:38 mark. The Scarlet Knights closed within one twice, the last at 15-14 with exactly ten minutes on the clock. With KSU up 21-18, a Rongie Gordon layup started a game-changing 23-6 run over the next six minutes. A jumper from Lue made the score 44-24 with under a minute to play, and the Owls took an 18-point lead into the half. KSU shot 50% for the half while holding RU to just 28.1%, and held a 27-12 edge on the boards.

THE SECOND HALF: Simeon Cottle opened the half with a trey to give KSU its largest lead of the game at 47-26. Rutgers would go on a 10-0 spurt to close within 47-36. The Owls however pushed the edge back up to 17 thanks to a Cottle jumper with 14:35 to play. Turnovers would plague the Owls in the second half, and Rutgers made them pay as it started a 14-4 run to make it a 59-52 game with 10:54 on the clock. KSU looked to have weathered the storm after scoring six unanswered for a 76-65 lead with just 3:10 to play, but again Bailey and Harper responded, scoring the next 12 points from Rutgers, including a 7-0 run to make it a 76-72 game with a minute to play, while Bailey hit a trey with 50 seconds left for a 77-75 contest.

THE FINAL MINUTE: Gordon was fouled and made both free throws to put KSU up four, before Harper answered with a jumper to again make it a two-point contest with 15 seconds left. The Owls were then fouled, and would miss both free throws giving Rutgers one last chance. Bailey brought the ball down the left side and attempted to throw a deep pass to a breaking Zach Martini on the right side. Wooley was guarding in the left corner but saw the pass and sprinted to the paint before leaping in front of the pass and then dribbled to mid court as time expired.

NOTES 
- KSU's home win streak against non-conference teams is now at 16 games.
- This was the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
- Cottle finished with 15 points, while also in double-figures was Wright with 13 and Adrian Wooley with 10.
- KSU shot 46.7% (28-of-60) for the game, but did struggle at the line, going just 4-of-11 in the final five minutes that allowed Rutgers to climb back into the game.
- The Owls won despite turning the ball over 22 times, which led to a 24-6 edge for points off turnovers for RU.
- KSU previously was 0-16 all-time against teams ranked in the AP Top 25.
- This was KSU's first-ever win against the Big Ten, and second-ever win against a Power Five conference after going 1-43 in the past 44 matchups.

NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls will begin a stretch of six straight away from their home court, starting with this week's Western Slam in Lethbridge, Alberta. KSU will open the MTE against UC Irvine on Thanksgiving, followed by Towson on Friday and Kent State on Saturday. All three games have 7:30 pm (ET) and will be streamed live on ESPN+.