BALTIMORE, MD. 1/4/11 – Junior forward Derek D'Amours (Agawam, Mass.) came off the bench to score 24 points to lead the Keene State College men's basketball team to an 83-67 over host Johns Hopkins University in a first-round game of the Blue Jay Invitational at Goldfarb Gym in Baltimore on Monday afternoon. D'Amours needs just 14 points to reach the 1,000-point career milestone.

Off to their best start since the 2006-07 season, the Owls (9-1) will go up against the winner of the Messiah College-Richard Stockton University game in Tuesday's championship contest (4 p.m.).  Johns Hopkins falls to 2-8.

"It's good to get the first one under your belt after the semester break," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  "Hopefully, we can find away to win the championship game."

Shaking off the rust of a 23 day lay-off, Keene State turned up the defensive intensity late in the first half, scoring the last seven points before the break on a slam by junior Cody Snow (Leyden, Mass.) and a three-pointer by D'Amours -one of his four baskets from behind the arc in the first half.  "Our offense was running well and I was fortunate to hit a few open shots," said D'Amours, who hit seven of his nine shots from the field, knocked down six of his eight three-point attempts and was a perfect four-for-four from the line."

"A 10-hour bus ride wasn't fun.  We didn't want to come down here and lose," said Snow, who finished with eight points and a couple of rebounds.  "Playing the host school, we knew we needed to step up our game and play well."  

Keene State opened the second half with a 17-2 run to put the game away.  Junior center Rashad Wright (Agawam, Mass.) scored seven of KSC's 17 points during the uprising, including a slam off a dump off pass from sophomore forward Eric Fazio (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.).  Wight finished the game with 13 points, nine rebounds, and six blocks. 

Sophomore guard Ryan Martin (Wayne, Maine) also scored in double-figures for KSC, netting 12 points to go with five assists.

Senior forward Mike Henrici (Wayne, Pa.) was the lone Blue Jay in double-figures, scoring 12 points.

KSC shot 46% (30-66) from the field and 52% (11-21) from behind the arc, but struggled at the line, hitting just 11 of its 21 shots (57%).  KSC won the battle of the glass, outrebounding JHU 46-35. Martin had seven rebounds and sophomores Nicco DeMasco (Richmond, N.H.) and Geoff Woodberry (Hyde Park, Mass.) each pulled down six boards.

Despite their sub-par record, the Blue Jays have made their presence felt in the national scene under Coach Bill Nelson, earning eight NCAA tournament berths, including a streak of five consecutive appearances from 1990 through 1994.

Messiah and Richard Stockton are also no strangers to NCAA play.  The Falcons earned back-to-back NCAA berths in 2006 and 2007.  Over the past three years, Richard Stockton has a combined record of 70-18 and three NCAA trips.