Category | Sports

Nickerson leads Owls to 2-0 start

Published on November 17, 2009 by Matt Bradshaw

Jon-Michael Nickerson and Markeith Cummings combined for 32 points and 15 boards as they led the Owls to a 78-65 win over North Georgia College and State University Saturday night at the KSU Convocation Center.

The win puts KSU at 2-0 and on track to surpass their best season start of 4-0, which they accomplished in the 2004 season. The defensive intensity of the Owl starters kept the game out of reach for North Georgia, but in the last 10 minutes of game play the Owls allowed them to score 33 points.

“I don’t really blame anybody, it’s just early in the season,” head coach Tony Ingle said. “It’s a role recognizing situation with some of these guys and they came out [with a 30 point lead] and they didn’t play hard. We lost a little bit of the ‘eye of the tiger’ late, we didn’t execute defensively or offensively and it was good for us to have that experience to learn from. I don’t want to learn from it and get beat; I want to learn from winning.”

Markeith Cummings again made the Convocation Center his personal playground as he earned his first collegiate double-double and had two rim-hanging alley-oop’s. Cumming’s second alley made the crowd erupt; the pass came from the game’s high scorer senior forward Nickerson.

“Your first one or two years your just trying to get your feet wet, by the fourth year you’ve got a feel for the game and what to expect, it comes down to confidence really,” Nickerson said. “We knew they were a team that wouldn’t give up, [the last 10 minutes] was definitely a letdown but you know every team has things to work on. It’s just part of putting it all together.”

Despite the Owls’ bench play in the second half of the game, Ingle isn’t too alarmed.

“I think everyone knows we subbed, yeah we could have won by a wider margin, but I’m into coaching my team and I’ve got a lot of questions,” Ingle said. “I’m still trying to find out who is good coming off the bench, who is good starting and who is good playing together? You know sometimes your five best players don’t make the best team.”

There were many standout players Saturday night. Spencer Dixon dropped nine points, grabbed two boards and added a few assists. Kurtis Woods followed up a high scoring first game with fewer points, but his key dunk and high energy defensive play that left coach Ingle happy.

While Coach Ingle sees a great deal of good on his team he certainly has his work cut out for the season.

“Bottom line is this: you’ve got to get your best players who play well together on the floor for the majority of the minutes, and your best offensive players shooting the ball the majority of the minutes. [A coach needs to know] your best defense, your best rebounders and, when you’ve got the lead, who is your best [defensive] team.”

The Owls head to the Chicago Invitational to play Saint     Louis on Nov. 22, and follow that game with a trip to take on the Irish of Notre Dame Nov. 24.