Kennesaw State used a huge game from RJ Johnson and the best three-point shooting performance in 10 years to claim a 74-65 victory over first-place Liberty in a thrilling Conference USA men's basketball contest on Thursday night from VyStar Arena.

With their fourth win over the Flames in the last seven meetings, KSU moves to 17-11 overall to clinching back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in program history (D1 era). The win also kept the Owls in a tie for fourth place in the league at 9-8 with their third straight win, while Liberty dropped to 23-5 overall, 15-2 in CUSA.

OWL OF THE GAME: Johnson was on fire for the Owls, especially after halftime. In the final 20 minutes, he was 7-of-8 from the floor, 5-of-5 from three-point range for 20 points, part of his game-high 25 points. He also added five assists and a game-high three steals.

STAT OF THE GAME: The Owls shot 51% for the game (28-of-55) and were 11-of-18 from three-point range for 61.1%. That ranks as the fifth-best percentage in school history, and the first time the Owls have made over 60% of their three-point attempts since the 2016-17 season. Liberty, who came into the game ranking first in three-pointers per game, finished 8-of-22 (36.4%), and 45.2% overall from the field.

THE FIRST HALF: Liberty scored the first five points of the game, and did not trail in the opening 10 minutes, going up as much as six, 13-7. After KSU took its first lead, 19-18 on a Jadan Harris layup, the Flames answered back with a trey, and then used a 6-0 run to grab a 27-22 advantage at the 4:28 mark. Frankquon Sherman then took over, draining a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions to spark a 10-0 KSU run. Trey Simpson capped the run with a highlight reel one-handed dunk from the baseline to give the Owls a 32-27 lead with under 30 seconds to play. Liberty hit two free throws to make it a three-point game at the break.

THE SECOND HALF: Liberty hit a pair of Brett Decker Jr. treys in the opening two minutes to tie the score twice, the last at 36-36. Johnson answered the last with a three-pointer, and that was followed by a Braedan Lue dunk and the Owls would lead for the rest of the way. Two straight threes from Sherman and Johnson gave KSU an 11-point edge at 54-43. Liberty would close within five twice, the last time at 60-55 on another Decker Jr. three-pointer. A three-pointer from Johnson followed by a conventional three-point play pushed the lead back to 11 points, and the Owls led by at least three possessions the rest of the way to claim their 12th home win of the season.

POSTGAME QUOTES – HEAD COACH ANTOINE PETTWAY
"Against a very good Liberty team, I love what I saw from our team tonight. 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."

NOTES
- This marked Johnson's first-ever game against Liberty in his career. He finished with his eighth 20+ point performance in the last 12 games.
- Sherman was the next highest scorer, finishing with 18 points while adding a game-high nine rebounds. Johnson and Sherman finished the night a combined 8-of-9 from three-point land.
- KSU claimed the win despite attempting just 12 total free throws (7-of-12).
- The Owls held a 32-21 edge on the boards, which led to a 9-2 advantage on second chance points.

NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls conclude a three-game homestand with a Senior Day contest on Saturday night against Delaware in VyStar Arena. The game tips off at 5 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.