On a night when its offense was clicking, the Kennesaw State defense wasn’t able to shut down Middle Tennessee. The result was a narrow 90-87 loss for the Owls on Thursday, snapping their eight-game home win streak.

It was only the second loss at home all season for the Owls (14-10, 6-7 Conference USA), the other home defeat coming back in November to South Florida. Kennesaw State also fell to 0-10 all-time vs. the Blue Raiders.

Braedan Lue led the Owls in scoring, finishing with 23 points. Kennesaw State also got 21 points, seven assists and two steals from RJ Johnson. Frankquon Sherman finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Kennesaw State lost despite shooting 50% from the field Thursday, the first time this season it lost a game when it had a field goal percentage of 50% or higher.

Sean Smith scored 22 points off of the bench to lead Middle Tennessee. Smith also had five assists for the Blue Raiders (12-12, 6-7 Conference USA).

Torey Alston scored 21 points and added six rebounds and three blocks. The Blue Raiders snapped a five-game slide.

Smith scored 10 points in the first half and Middle Tennessee went into halftime trailing 49-45. Middle Tennessee pulled off the victory after an 8-0 second-half run erased a seven-point deficit and gave them the lead at 71-70 with 8:28 remaining in the half. Alston scored 12 second-half points.

After Chris Loofe’s dunk with 1:41 remaining, the Blue Raiders closed out the win with free throws.

Kennesaw State hosts Sam Houston on Saturday.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this article.

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