KENNESAW, Ga. – On a dreary and rainy afternoon, the Thomas University men's basketball team slipped on the road to Kennesaw State University 92-66 in their final exhibition matchup for the 2014-2015 season.  While an early press defense challenged the Owls, the KSU's size and accurate perimeter shooting, coupled with mounting turnovers by TU, ended the Night Hawks' bid for an upset victory over their NCAA Division I foe.
 
KSU started the game with a deep three pointer by Delbert Love and never looked back.  While the contest started off with a close basket-for-basket affair, the tale of two halves proved to be the difference in the game.  The Owls, who shot 47.4 percent from behind the arch, landed six first half three pointers that led to the 52-31 Night Hawk deficit at intermission.
 
The Night Hawks regrouped at half and forged a valiant effort towards a comeback.  However, the Owls continual offensive assault led to KSU's growing lead and a game height of 30 points when junior guard Yonel Brown stole an erred pass by Adonai Rogers and landed a fast break layup for the 75-45 lead. With just over six minutes remaining in the contest, the Night Hawks made key defensive stops and forced 10 turnovers by the Owls that brought the contest to 77-56 gap with 6:10 remaining in regulation. While the comeback attempt was temporary in effect, late turnovers, missed shots, and mishandled entry passes proved to be the Achilles heel and demise for the Night Hawks sending KSU to the 92-66 victory.
 
Senior forward Alan Love led the way for the Night Hawks scoring 16 while bringing down six rebounds and dishing out one assist.  Teammate Marcus Humose contributed 14 points and four boards in the losing effort while Max Grace added 12 points.
 
"Execution. Execution. Execution," stated head coach Stephen Cox.  "When you play good teams, you have to execute your plan. That, too, goes along with making shots from the perimeter.  You can't shoot 19% from three and expect to be successful.  However, I am happy with the guys' effort in the second half; we had a couple of guys in double figures.  It could have gotten ugly, but the guys hung in there.  We will use this as a means to get better for conference play starting next week.  Once again, it was a great opportunity and chance to receive national publicity on the ESPN network.  This is a big step for our program and Thomas University as a whole."
 
Brown, who set a career high single game scoring record, led Kennesaw State with a dominate performance on both ends of the court en route to dropping 36 points on the Night Hawks.  Brown also contributed two assists, five rebounds, and two steals.
 
The Night Hawks return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 7 when they travel to Babson Park, Fla., to face Sun Conference rival Webber International University. Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m.
 
For up-to-date information on this game and other TU Athletics, visit http://www.TUNightHawks.com.  Stay up-to-date with news, scores, photos, game summaries, play-by-play, and feature stories of your TU men's basketball team by following them via Twitter at @NightHawksMBKB.

A complete photo gallery from today's match can be accessed by clicking here.