Kennesaw State upends Georgia Tech

Kennesaw State star Markeith Cummings missed two dunks and a layup in the second half and finished with a modest 13 points, but he was picked up by two teammates from Georgia, one from metro Atlanta.

Junior guard Spencer Dixon of Kennesaw Mountain High scored 27 points and sophomore forward LaDaris Green of Savannah Beach pitched in 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Owls (2-0).

Iman Shumpert led Tech (1-1) with 20 points, while Glen Rice Jr. added 15 points and Brian Oliver 12 points.

The Owls, who won the 2004 Division II national championship before moving up to become a transitional Division I team in 2005-06, became a full-fledged member of the Division I Atlantic Sun last season, thus becoming eligible for the NCAA Tournament.

They were 13-20 last season, but added seven new players, including three junior-college transfers and a player who sat out last season after transferring to KSU.

“I’m tired of bus rides . ... Four years of reclassification. ... We went from the penthouse to the outhouse,” Owls coach Tony Ingle said. “Now, second year, we’ve got some guys with some swagger. We want to get in the NCAA tournament.

“I told the guys before the game, ‘Do you got your tennis shoes?’“

Getting an affirmative answer, Ingles continued: “We got rims out here? Got a basketball? Got a jersey? You got a dream? Then bring it, bring your dream.”

Tech's Hewitt said the disturbing trend he saw in his team was a lack of maturity in everything from shot selection to what he referred to the occasional cavalier attitude.

Oliver added, “We didn’t take our time enough. We were just kind of getting up there hoping it was going to go in. We have to buckle down mentally. We have the talent.”

Kennesaw State's Dixon, who made 8 of 17 shots and added six assists and four steals, was ready for a big night.

“Georgia Tech wasn’t one of my favorite teams growing up,” he said. “I feel confident taking those shots. Somebody had to shoot it."

At the end of the season, when RPI rankings matter a great deal for teams attempting to earn NCAA Tournament bids, road games help a team’s ranking, and road wins help even more. Monday night was a chance for the Yellow Jackets to go on the road and play a Division I opponent without having to board a plane or spend a night in a hotel.

That plan backfired from the start.

The Owls took the energy of their sellout crowd to the floor with them in the first half.

In racing to leads of 7-0, 15-5 and a max of 36-16, coach Tony Ingle’s team beat the Jackets by playing the way Hewitt and his players wanted to play -- generating points in their transition game and draining 3-pointers when open.

KSU outscored the Jackets 10-2 in fast-break points in the first 20 minutes, and made 6 of 14 treys in the first half while Tech missed all six tries. This came after the Jackets connected on just 3 of 22 3-pointers in a season-opening win Friday over Charleston Southern.

Every time it looked like the Jackets might chip away at the deficit, the Owls made a big play, whether it was Kelvin McConnell hitting 3 of 5 treys, Cummings pitching in 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting, or junior-college Aaron Anderson grabbing six first-half rebounds.

KSU led 41-26 at halftime.

The Jackets turned up their defensive pressure and started the second half with a 7-0 run that included their first 3-pointer by Oliver, and he hit another to pull Tech within 48-40 with 15:10 left.

The Jackets  pulled as close as 49-43, but with 12:47 left in the game Oliver picked up his third foul while battling Cummings for a rebound. Dixon hit a long 3-pointer off the ensuing inbounds pass.

Tech never drew closer than 54-49, which happened when freshman Kammeon Holsey sank a pair of free throws with 9:35 left in the game.

Dixon hit another 3-pointer, and, after Rice threw a ball out of bounds, Anderson’s tip-in at the other end pushed the KSU lead back to 10.