Box Score (.pdf)

Spartanburg, S.C. – Kendrick Ray scored a game-high 23 points as the Kennesaw State Owls held off a late rally by the USC Upstate men's basketball team for a 78-75 win Wednesday evening inside the Hodge Center.

Upstate drops to 7-16 on the season and 1-5 in A-Sun play, while Kennesaw State improves to 6-16 overall and 2-4 in the conference.

Michael Buchanan posted his second straight double-double, the first since Ricardo Glenn in 2013-14, with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Deion Holmes scored 16 points followed by Josh Cuthbertson with 14 and Mike Cunningham's 12. Cuthbertson also dished out three assists for the Spartans.

Ray was one of three Owls to finish in double-figures as Yonel Brown added 13 points and Nick Masterson 11. Ray contributed a game-high six assists and Bernard Morena grabbed seven rebounds.

Kennesaw State opened the game on a 7-0 run before a Buchanan jumper got Upstate on the board at the 16:56 mark. Jacob Schulte hit the first of two free throws to bring the Spartans to within four, 9-5, before a Morena layup pushed the Owls lead back to 11-5. Malik Moore cut the Spartan deficit to 14-13 with a three-pointer at the 10:31 mark, but Kennesaw State answered with a Ray three-pointer and a Williams jumper to take a 19-13 lead going into the third media timeout of the first half.

After a Holmes jumper made the score 21-16, the Owls went on a 9-2 run for a 30-18 lead after a Masterson three-pointer with 3:20 to play. Buchanan missed a layup just before the buzzer as Kennesaw State led 34-25 at halftime.

The Owls opened the second half on a 12-4 run capped by a Brown layup for a 46-29 advantage with 16:21 to play. Morena completed a three-point play to give Kennesaw State a game-high 19-point lead, 53-34, with 12:26 remaining.

Upstate started its comeback when Buchanan hit a jumper followed by a layup to cut its deficit down to 58-47 with 6:43 to go. Cuthbertson trimmed the KSU advantage down to 64-55 with 4:05 left on his jumper. Buchanan completed his three-point play with 3:38 remaining to put the score at 66-58.  Kosta Jankovic sank a three-pointer to push the Owls lead back to double-digits before Cunningham made the score 70-63 with a three-pointer at the 2:02 mark.

After Kennesaw State pushed its lead back to 72-63 with 1:36 remaining on a pair of free throws by Aubrey Williams, the Spartans scored six of the next eight points to make it a 73-69 contest with just under a minute to play. Holmes and Cunningham connected on back-to-back three's to get Upstate to within two, 77-75, with just nine seconds left in the game.

Ray made just one of his two free throws the following possession, but Cunningham's last second three-pointer hit off the back rim to give the Owls the 78-75 victory.

Upstate finished the game shooting 42.4% (28-of-66) while Kennesaw State had a 48.1% (25-of-52) mark. The Spartans outscored the Owls 30-24 in the paint and 17-11 in second chance points.

Upstate travels to Lipscomb Saturday evening for a 5 p.m. EST contest inside Allen Arena.

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