Despite the loss, Maryville saw improvements throughout the game. The Saints trailed 46-29 at halftime, but battled to a 45-45 draw in the second half.
Senior Marcus Henderson scored a team-high 19 points on 5-10 (.500) shooting from the field. Junior Ryan Klein was the only other Saints player to score in double figures. He recorded 11 points and a team-high six rebounds in the loss.
The Fighting Owls were led by Rey Luque with 27 points, while Georgy Joseph tallied a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Kennesaw State's Tommy Thompson also played well, finishing with 11 assists and five steals to go along with his eight points and three rebounds.
Also scoring in double figures for the Fighting Owls were Cardale Talley and Ronnell Wooten with 12 and 10 points respectively.
The Saints, who were only outrebounded 47-41, committed a total of 25 turnovers for the game and forced only 15. Maryville finished 26-62 (.419) from the floor, including 11-28 (.393) from behind the arc.
Head coach Matt Rogers and his squad will be back in action this weekend when they continue their road trip to Memphis, TN, to compete in the Rhodes Classic. Maryville will face host Rhodes College at 7:00 pm on Friday, before taking on Hendrix College (AR) at 1:00 pm Saturday afternoon.