KENNESAW, Ga. -- Kennesaw State finished on a 10-2 run in the game's final 2:22 Friday night to hand Jacksonville State an 80-74 defeat at the KSU Convocation Center in the first round of The 100 Club Classic.
The Owls managed just two field goals in the game's final 5:16, but went 8-of-10 from the free throw line during that span. Meanwhile, JSU was just 4-of-17 from the charity stripe in the game.
"I thought we battled very hard, but its very obvious to see that the game was lost at the free throw line," JSU head coach Mike LaPlante said. "When you get outscored 20-4 and then on top of that they went to the line 32 times to our 17. I hope this is more of a symptom and not a disease. We've worked on it and we have to continue to shoot the ball with confidence."
KSU was just 20-of-32 from the free throw line in the game, but was solid when it needed the points down the stretch.
JSU trailed 68-61 with 5:14 left to play and that's when J.J. Wesley began to heat up from behind the 3-point arc. Wesley, who finished with a career-high 15 points on five second half treys, cut the dificit to four with a trey at the 4:55 mark. Then, after both teams traded buckets, Wesley burried consecutive 3-pointers to put the Gamecocks ahead 72-70 with 2:22 remaining.
But KSU answered on its next possession with a three of its own from Ryan Daugherty with 1:51 left and never relinquished the lead again.
Along with Wesley, two other Gamecocks scored in double figures. Dorien Brown, despite playing just 18 minutes due to foul trouble, finished with 22 points, just two off a career high. Will Ginn had 11 points and five assists.
"J.J. is a threat," LaPlante said. "He even had a couple that were in the bottom of the rim and came back out. Kennesaw did a good job of holding our two money guys, Will Gin and Jeremy Bynum, off the board. They just struggled to find the rythym early. We have to be able to bounce back tomorrow."
KSU's Shuan Stegall led four Owls in double figures with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds. Forward Tanner Jacobs scored 13 of his career-high 18 in the second half. Jonathan Whipple had 11 and Daugherty finish with 10.
"We did a good job of holding Ryan Wooten down, but then Jacobs goes off for a career-high," LaPlante said. "We did a bad job in our low post defense. We're going to change things up there. We have two of the better shot blockers in the conference and we should be able to do a better job down there."
KSU outrebounded the Gamecocks 46-34 and had 16 offensive rebounds that resulted in 16 second chance points, twice as many as JSU.
The Gamecocks got out of the gates quickly. Brown scored seven of JSU's first nine points and staked the Gamecocks to an early 9-2 lead. But Brown picked up his second foul of the half at the 14:39 mark and sat for the rest of half. With both Brown and Amadou Mbodji sitting in foul trouble, JSU struggled to find an answer inside agasint Shaun Stegall. Stegall scored 10 of his 19 in the first half.
The foul trouble, however, didn't take JSU out of the game. With Brown on the bench, KSU jumped out to a 7-point lead at 32-25. But JSU closed the half on a 10-5 run on the strength of baskets from five different players to draw to within two at the break.
JSU will play Saturday in the consolation game of the The 100 Club Classic against Texas State at 4 p.m. Texas State fell to Colgate Friday afternoon.
