KENNESAW Ga.- The Jacksonville men's basketball team fell to Kennesaw State 81-66 on Thursday night.
 
The first half started with a Gyasi Powell three-pointer just 30 seconds into the contest. After that opening bucket, Kennesaw State went on a 20-9 run that was capped by a three-point jumper by the Owls Spencer Rodgers at the 11:57 mark. Mike Marsh responded with back-to-back floaters from mid-range to cut into the deficit, however, Chris Youngblood of KSU responded with a three immediately after to up the Owls lead to seven. Jordan Davis had a fantastic effort to follow with a solo steal-and-score with just over eight minutes to play to shrink the lead again Marsh followed with a made hookshot to help get the Dolphins deficit to as low as four points with 6:50 remaining. Kennesaw State again responded to the JU run as Terrell Burden responded with a driving layup and a three pointer on consecutive possessions.
 
JU used a big three from Kevion Nolan and two more buckets from Marsh down low to limit the damage going into the break, as the Dolphins trailed by just five, 38-33, going into the second half.
 
Kennesaw State started the second half in a similar fashion to the theme of the first as they got four points in the first minute from two buckets to start the second phase of the game. Omar Payne answered with a thunderous ally-oop off a lob from Nolan and both sides were underway.
 
The Owls got five points off a couple of free throws and a Terrell Burden layup at 16:11, and JU would respond with a Powell jumper and a Davis layup. Then Davis scored four consecutive points, before Kennesaw State would respond with five themselves. KSU's second half lead reached as high as 10 by the 13:17 mark. The Dolphins cut it in half with back-to-back makes from Powell and Davis again with 12:53 left. While neither side could take control of the second half, the Dolphins found themselves down 14 with 4:16 remaining.
 
The rest of the game was played fairly evenly as JU had the edge 7-6 on the scoreboard. Jalen Nesmith recorded the last bucket of the game on a layup with 1:07 left.
 
NUMBERS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Three Dolphins scored in double figures with Davis scoring 16, Powell at 15 and Marsh with 14.
The game saw 40 total fouls as both sides split it evenly with 20 each
Osifo led the game in rebounds with seven, and Nolan led the game in assists with six.  
 
UP NEXT

The Dolphins are back in action Saturday as they travel to Jacksonville, Alabama for another ASUN matchup with Jacksonville State University. The game is slated for a 5 pm (EST) tip-off and can be streamed on ESPN+ or listened to on 1010XL radio.