Feb. 21, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Freshman Kelvin McConnell scored a career-high 20 points and Shuan Stegall recorded a double-double to lead Kennesaw State to a, 63-54, win over North Florida at the UNF Arena on Thursday evening.

The Owls (9-19, 6-8 A-Sun) won their third straight game as they moved two games under .500 with two games remaining in the regular season while also keeping their former Division II foes winless in the conference.

McConnell (6-for-10) was on fire for the Owls, making five-of-seven three-pointers as Kennesaw State had four players score in double figures for the second consecutive game. However, it was the KSU starting five that had a monster night, scoring 60 of the Owls 63 points including Jon-Michael Nickerson's (6-for-13) 14 points and Ronell Wooten's (5-for-12) 10 points.

Kennesaw State overcame a five-point deficit in the second half as they matched their longest winning streak of the season. The Owls led by two points at intermission, but found themselves trailing quickly as UNF (2-24, 0-13 A-Sun) opened the second half on a 7-0 run to build their largest lead of the night less than three minutes into the second half.

Four ties and five lead changes occurred in the second half before the Owls took their final lead of the game on a pair of Stegall free-throws with 10:13 left to play. Nickerson kept the rally going by using a pair of lay-ups to sandwich a basket by UNF's Tom Hammonds as the Black and Gold pushed their lead to four points with 8:42 left.

Stegall, who scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, was the only KSU player to mark each scoring column as the senior had three steals, three assists and a block in 37 minutes. Stegall now has six double-doubles on the season and is tied for third in the A-Sun.

The Ospreys could never threaten the rest of the night as they could only manage to briefly cut the Owls lead to three points. Cortez Riley's three-pointer brought UNF to within 53-50, but McConnell hit a three-pointer on the Owls next possession for a 56-50 lead.

Kennesaw State has a chance to finish with a .500 record in the conference for the third consecutive season if they can win their next two games. KSU plays Jacksonville on Saturday afternoon and travels to Mercer on Feb. 29 in the regionally-televised, A-Sun Game of the Week.

The Owls and the Dolphins of Jacksonville will tip-off at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Jacksonville Veteran's Memorial Arena. The game can be heard live on SuperTalk 1230/1340 AM with Craig Corbin and Scott Webb broadcasting all the action.