Kennesaw State fell behind Division III Piedmont College by 12 points late in the first half before rallying to take an 85-78 exhibition basketball victory at the KSU Convocation Center on Monday night.
The Owls closed to within two by halftime, then fought evenly for nearly nine minutes in the second half, taking the lead for good with 11:46 remaining.
KSU put four players in double-figure scoring including 17 from Nigel Pruitt, 16 from Drew McGhee, 12 from Orlando Coleman and 10 from Yonel Brown. Pruitt hit four 3-pointers.
“Tonight was a great example of another team playing their tail off,” Kennesaw State coach Lewis Preston said. “We learned a lot about our group tonight. The last 10 minutes, that group that was on the floor for us really showed toughness and that’s what we wanted to see out of our guys.”
With Piedmont up by 12 points after a Safari Smith 3-pointer just before the end of the first half, the Owls sprung to life, going on an 11-0 run over a two-minute span with four of those points coming from the senior McGhee to cut the Lion lead to one. The Owls trailed by two at the half.
To go with his 12 points, Coleman had six assists and grabbed five rebounds.
It was the second consecutive season that Piedmont was an exhibition opponent, losing to the Owls 82-43 a year ago.
The Owls open their season this weekend with four games in their KSU Tournament. They meet Youngstown State on Friday at 7:30 p.m., Eastern Kentucky on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., Florida International on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. and Warren Wilson on Monday at 11 a.m.
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