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IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Kennesaw State Owls began their 2016-17 season by playing the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday, November 11. Despite a career high from Nick Masterson, the Owls dropped their opener 91-74 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
 
Masterson started the season on fire scoring 29 points going 11-16 from the floor and tying a Kennesaw State school record with seven three pointers.
 
Iowa built an early lead going up 9-0, but KSU hung around not letting the Hawkeyes run away with the game early. Trailing by 13 with two minutes remaining in the opening frame, Iowa went on an 8-0 run to build their biggest lead of the game.
 
Masterson answered by hitting a three at the buzzer to make the halftime score 43-25 in favor of Iowa.
 
Coming out of the locker room, the Owls jumped on the Hawkeyes going on a quick 5-0 run after an Aubrey Williams layup and a Masterson three. Iowa used an early timeout to slow down KSU's momentum early in the second half.
 
Out of the timeout, Iowa pushed their lead back up to 14, but Masterson's hot shooting got the Owls to within eight with 16:40 remaining in the game. KSU couldn't get any closer than that though as Iowa and Peter Jok proved to be too much for the Owls as they stretched their lead back out to double-digits and sealed the victory on opening night.
 
Kennesaw State will now travel back home and play their first home game of the 2016-17 season against Brewton-Parker at 7 p.m. in the KSU Convocation Center.
  
#NestNotes

• Kendrick Ray made the first basket of the Owls in the 2016-17 season. He also made the final field goal for Kennesaw State in the 2015-16 season.
• Nick Masterson started the season on fire for the Owls setting a new career high with 29 points going 11-16 from the floor. He hit seven three points tying a Kennesaw State school record.  
• Kennesaw State had two players in double figures as Masterson led the team with 29 and Kendrick Ray finished with 12 points. In total, 10 players saw action in the game and nine of them scored.
• Four freshmen got their first taste of college basketball and all of them scored at least one point. Out of the four, Johannes Nielsen led the bunch with eight points.
• The team assisted on 19 of the 30 field goals made in the game.
• KSU outrebounded the Hawkeyes 41-39 in the game. A large part of that was on the offensive end as the Owls brought down 17 offensive rebounds.

 
Season tickets are on sale for $99 for the 13 games played in the KSU Convocation Center. For more information on purchasing season or single-game tickets, call the KSU Ticket Office at 470-578-6957 or click HERE to purchase now.

To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State men's basketball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsMBB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.