Bama kicks Kennesaw State in Rocket City Classic

HUNTSVILLE – The Kennesaw State Owls men’s basketball team closed out its non-conference schedule with its first ranked opponent of the season as the squad battled No. 16 Alabama in the Rocket City Classic at the Von Braun Center.

The Owl’s appearance away from the Conference USA was not what it hoped for before the announced crowd of 4,520. With former Bob Jones’ All-State Kaden Rickard one of the Owls starting five, Alabama scored first and never relinquished its lead and cruised to a 92-81 victory including a 30-point lead at one point early in the second half.

For Rickard, a freshman, who saw 17 minutes of playing time, he ended up with no points going 0-2 from the field. He had one rebound with four assists along with one block and steal each.

Also for the Owls, from the school located in North Georgia, R.J. Johnson, who played at Huntsville’s Grissom High, scored 16 points.

Aiden Sherrell scored a career- high 21 points to lead the Crimson Tide (9-3) to the victory.

For Kennesaw State (8-4), the Owls fell to 1-17 all-time against teams in the Associated Press Top 25 and 0-12 against the Southeastern Conference. The Owls managed just three field goals in the first 13 minutes finishing the first half shooting just 29-percent. Meanwhile, the squad’s defense held the Tide to just 11 points in the first eight minutes, but then Alabama went on a 16-2 run and moved to a 26-point halftime lead. The second half had a more mutual battle as the Owls actually got the better of the Tide outscoring Alabama 53-38 in the second stanza of the game that lasted 1-hour, 54-minutes.

Against the more physical Alabama squad, Kennesaw State won the rebounding battle 46-41 as the Owls came into the game as the top rebounding team in the nation. The Owls were hurt by 16 turnovers giving the Tide the edge for points off turnovers 22-10, but the Owls continued scoring at a high rate currently ranked fifth in the nation at 97.2 points per game.

The 6-6, 211-pound Rickard, has six starts for the Owls this season where he has averaged 22 minutes playing time, 8.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per outing. His Owls are expected to return to Huntsville in March as the7,500-seat Propst Arena of the Von Braun Center will play host to the Conference USA Tournament.