MACON, Georgia - January 19, 2006 - After three straight games at home, the Kennesaw State men's basketball team traveled to Mercer where the Owls pulled out a 63-57 win on Thursday night at the University Center.

The victory is the sixth straight for KSU (10-8, 8-1 Atlantic Sun Conference), which marks the longest win streak since last season when the Owls won nine consecutive games from January 26 to February 19.

Mercer (3-11, 2-6 A-Sun) jumped out a quick 2-0 lead when Will Emerson connected on a lay-up. The Owls were quick to respond as Ronell Wooten hit the first of his two three-pointers to give KSU the early lead. From that point on, the Owls never looked back, as they would remain in the lead for the entire ballgame.

Kennesaw State's lead grew to as many as 14 points in the first half when Ryan Nelson finished off a lay-up to put the Owls up 35-21 with 2:19 to go. Mercer scored the next two baskets before Brent Ragsdale's lay-up with one second remaining sent Kennesaw State to the locker room with a 37-27 halftime advantage.

The Bears showed great fortitude in the second half, as they came out to score the first six points after the intermission. While the Owls shot just 29.0 percent in the half, Mercer was able to creep back into the contest.

The Bears pulled within three when Jacob Skogen connected on one of two foul shots to draw the score to 58-55 with 2:04 to go. That would be as close as Mercer could get, as KSU slowed down the pace and Andre Morgan and Nelson connected on their free throws down the stretch to clinch the six-point win.

Kennesaw State was 11-of-12 (.917) from the charity stripe on the night, while the Bears made just 8-of-13 freebies.

Ragsdale paced the Owls with 23-points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor. Golden Ingle added 14 and Wooten chipped in 8 for KSU.

Mercer had four players score in double figures, led by Jacob Skogen's 16-points. Sam Dolan finished with 13, Andrew Brown added 12 and Will Emerson scored 10-points and grabbed 11-rebounds for the Bears.

The Owls will look for their seventh straight win as they travel to Stetson for a 7:00 p.m. game on Saturday night.