RJ Johnson scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half as Kennesaw State upset Liberty 74-65 on Thursday night.
Johnson also contributed five assists and three steals for the Owls (17-11, 9-8 Conference USA). Frankquon Sherman scored 18 points and added nine rebounds.
With the score tied 36-36 early in the second half, Kennesaw State used an 18-7 run to take a 54-43 lead.
It was Kennesaw State’s third straight win, the fourth different win streak of three or more games for the Owls.
“Against a very good Liberty team, I love what I saw from our team tonight,” coach Antoine Pettway said. “We told the boys if we wanted to do something special, we needed to horn in on our defense. Our offense is not going to win games, it’s the defense, it’s a small margin of victory each game, we lost two games at home by three and four points, so we doubled down on what we want to work on defensively and they rose to the occasion tonight.”
The Owls shot 51% for the game (28-of-55) and were 11-of-18 from three-point range for 61.1%, their best mark since the 2016-17 season.
Brett Decker Jr. led the way for the Flames (23-5, 15-2) with 15 points. Liberty also got 14 points and four steals from JJ Harper. Colin Porter also had 11 points.
A 10-0 run in the first half gave Kennesaw State a five-point lead. The teams entered the break with Kennesaw State ahead 32-29, while Amir Taylor led his club in scoring with six points. Johnson’s 3-pointer with 17:05 left in the second half gave Kennesaw State the lead for good at 39-36.
The Owls will try for their fourth straight win on Saturday when they host Delaware.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this article.
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