CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Chattanooga Mocs (0-3) men's basketball team could not overcome a mid-game lull, falling 65-59 to visiting Kennesaw State (1-2) Friday night. UTC trailed by as many as 16 before a furious comeback attempt fell short in the final minute.

Senior Omar Wattad (Johnson City, Tenn.) nailed a three-pointer for the Mocs to cut the margin to nine, 50-41, at 11:41. But the Owls had an answer. On their ensuing possession, Romain Henry drained a trey of his own as shot clock buzzed zero to make it 53-41 at 11:01. That shot sparked a 10-3 run for KSU as a Markeith Cummings layup on the break gave it its biggest lead, 60-44, at 8:28.

But the Mocs started nibbling at the lead. Jahmal Burroughs (New Orleans, La.) followed his own missed shot with a rebound tip to get the score within 10 for good, 62-53, at 3:54. Two Drazen Zlovaric (Novi Sad, Serbia) free throws at 1:20 made things very interesting at 62-58.

Ricky Taylor (Brownsville, Tenn.) forced a Spencer Dixon turnover on the defensive end and the Mocs were in business. Wattad missed a three with 35 seconds remaining, and Cummings broke free at the other end for a dunk and a free throw to put the game out of reach, 65-58, at the 32-second mark. Zlovaric hit one of two free throws nine seconds later to provide the final margin.

Cummings came off the bench to lead all scorers with 21 points, adding eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Dixon chipped in 17 for the Owls.

Taylor's 14 paced the Mocs, while Wattad added 12. Zlovaric just missed a double-double with 11 points and game-high nine boards.

UTC came out firing scoring on two of its first three possessions of the game. Lance Stokes' (Orlando, Fla.) fast break layup off a beautiful feed from Ronrico White (Knoxville, Tenn.) gave the Mocs their largest lead of nine, 14-5, at 13:12.

But KSU scored 11 of the next 13 points to take its first lead, 16-15, on a Cummings layup off the break. Cummings' three at 4:24 gave the Owls the lead for good, 28-27, as they finished the last 4:45 of the first half out-scoring the Mocs 12-4, to take a 37-31 cushion into intermission.

Kennesaw State scored 18 fast break points on the evening and ended up shooting 44.6 percent (25-56) from the field. The Owls started out hitting just four of 13 attempts, 30.8 percent, before making 21 of 43 (48.8%) the rest of the way.

Conversely, the Mocs started hot and struggled the rest of the way. The second half was a chilly 32.1 percent (9-28) performance from the field, including just five of 13 (38.5%) inside three-point range.

Tonight is the first of a four-game home stand for Chattanooga. UTC hosts Warren Wilson on Monday at 7 p.m. Live video, audio and stats are available at GoMocs.com via the men's basketball schedule page. Fans can also follow on Twitter (@GoMocs) for notes, stats and more.

Tickets are available at the McKenzie Arena ticket office, by phone at (423) 266-MOCS (6627) and online at GoMocs.com. Half-priced general admission tickets ($4) are available online to print at home using promo code ITSTIME. Offer expires two hours before each home contest.