MBB: IPFW Hammers Kennesaw State 70-47

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - A 44-point second half helped propel the IPFW Mastodons to a 70-47 win in the team's final home game of the 2012 calendar year over the Owls of Kennesaw State.

Frank Gaines scored a game-high 22 points, leading three others in double figures including 16 from Mario Hines, 14 from Luis Jacobo, and 10 from Michael Kibiloski. Joe Edwards added six points in the winning effort.

Jacobo and Hines each pulled down eight rebounds in the win, as IPFW (6-7) out-rebounded Kennesaw State 35-to-31, while Pierre Bland and Isaiah McCray gave out seven and five assists, apiece. 

Kennesaw State (1-10) got the first basket of the game to lead 2-0, before IPFW rattled off six straight points to take a four point lead, one they would not give up for the remainder of the contest.

The IPFW first-half lead grew to as many as eight on an Edwards lay-in to cap off a 7-0 run, as the Owls closed the half by scoring four straight to cut the deficit to four at 26-22 heading into the locker room at halftime.

Leading by six at 36-30, IPFW ran off a 9-1 run to push the advantage to 14, and Kennesaw State never saw their deficit dip into single digits the rest of the way, as the Mastodons closed the game on a 12-2 run to give IPFW its largest margin of the contest at 23.

Jacobo grabbed a career-high five steals, with the team picking up 11, while sporting an 18-to-13 assist-to-turnover ratio in the game.

IPFW went an even 24-of-48 from the field (50.0 percent), 6-of-15 (40.0 %) from long range, and 16-of-26 (61.5%) from the charity stripe. 

The Mastodons return to action on December 27, when the squad travels to Indianapolis to face off against the Jaguars of IUPUI at Bakers Life Arena, in the program's first Summit League contest of the 2012-13 season.