'COSTA MESA, CA. 12/29/06 - The Keene State College men's basketball team defeated the University of South (Sewanee) 67-54 in its first of two games at the Surf City Classic at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Ca., on Friday night.

Tyler Kathan (Springfield, Vt.,) scored a game high 18 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Owls (7-1), who were playing their first game since Dec. 9.  Three Owls, Nate Anderson (Westminster, Mass.), Nick Drouin (Weare, N.H.), and Anthony Licitra (Glastonbury, Conn.) finished with eight points each.

 "We'll take the win, but it wasn't pretty," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  "We never really got untracked.  A lot of that has to do with the lay-off.  We didn't execute well (26 turnovers) and couldn't get good touches for key people in our half court offense.  If we play like that against Bridgewater State, we'll be in for trouble."

KSC took an early six point lead (19-13) on a three-pointer by Travon Little (Danbury, Conn.) but the Tigers went on a 7-1 run to take a 21-20 lead with 7:13 to play in the first half.  The Owls answered with an 11-0 run that included five points from Licitra to pull ahead by 10 points (31-21).  Keene State went to the locker room with a 31-24 lead.

The Owls never relinquished their lead the rest of the way.  The Tigers, who were playing with out their player (Joey Garcia), got the lead down to four points (33-29) three minutes into the second half.  KSC pulled away from there.  The Owls took their biggest lead 57-41 on a three-pointer by Matt Hickey (Mahopac, N.Y.) with 6:55 to play.

Ben Pursell had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead Sewanee (1-7).

Saturday's game against Bridgewater State will be an in-region game for the Owls. Bridgewater State had a 5-1 record prior to Friday Classic game against Babson.  Last year, the Bears defeated KSC 83-57 in the championship game of the Montclair (N.J.) State tournament.

"The weather has been great and everyone is having a good time, but a win against Bridgewater would certainly be a nice way to conclude the trip," Colbert said.