'COSTA MESA, CA 12/30/06 - Nick Drouin (Weare, N.H.) came off the bench to scored a career high 30 points and pull down 17 rebounds and Tyler Kathan (Springfield, Vt.) finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Keene State College men's basketball team to a an amazing 80-71 come from behind victory over Bridgewater State College at the Surf City Classic in Costa Mesa, Ca. on Saturday.

Keene State, which won both of its games in the Classic (67-54 over Sewanee, Friday)improve to 8-1. 

The Owls fell behind by as many as 18 points (34-16) at the 4:19 mark of the first half before climbing back into the game. KSC finished the half with a 19-4 run to cut the deficit to three points (38-35) at the half. Drouin and Kathan ignited the run with seven and six points respectively.  David Sontag (Mont Vernon, N.H.) capped the come back with a long range three pointer at the buzzer.

"I was dissapointed with our slow start," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  "We got a way from who we are." 

Colbert made some adjustments to get the Owls back in the game.  "We put Kathan on their top player Tom Cuddihy to stopthe leak defensivley and the ball started falling for us offensively," he said. 

Sontag's three-pointer gave KSC its first lead of the game (45-42)two and a half minutes into the second half.  From there, the Owls used a 12-2 run to go up by 13 (57-44) on a three-pointer by Drouin at the 13:18 mark. 

The Bears go the lead down to four points twice. The last time 66-62 on a lay-up by K.C. Grandfield with 4:56 to play.  However, the Owls scored the next six points of the game to build their lead back up to 12 points (74-62) on a three-pointer by Kathan with 3:03 to play.

The catalyst of the come back, Drouin hit 13 of his 20 attemps from the field.  "Nick put on his cape and came out of the telephone booth. He was our Superman tonight," said Colbert. 

"I just tried to come in and jump start the team," Drouin said.  "My teammates got me the ball in good positions on the floor and my shots started dropping.  When that happens you get more confidence not only scoring but in your overall game."

Sontag, whoi finished with 11 points, was the only other double-figure scorer for the Owls.  Kathan also dished out six assists. 

Cuddihy scored 19 points to lead Bridgewater (6-2), which defeated KSC 83-57 in the championship game of the Montclair (N.J.) State tournament last year.  Adam Rose had 16 points, and Derek Thompson finished with 15 points for the Bears.

To double the pleasure, KSC not only get to avenge last year's loss, gains a key in-region victory against the highly reguarded Bears.

How are the Owls going to celebrate?  "We're going to Disneyland tomorrow," said Colbert.