KEENE, N.H. 12/3/11 – After trailing by two points just seconds into the contest, the Keene State College men's basketball team ran-away with their Little East Conference opener, defeating the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs 92-55 in a packed Spaulding Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

"This was a good win for us," said KSC head coach Rob Colbert. "Usually UMass gives us fits but we shot the ball extremely well and really guarded well in the frontcourt."

Junior point-guard Ryan Martin (Wayne, Maine) led all scorers with 15 points and dished out a game-high seven assists in the victory. "I knew that I had to try to be aggressive," said Martin. "I was in that mindset coming into the game and it worked well for all of us."

The Owls (5-1, 1-0 LEC) dropped both regular season contests to the Corsairs (3-3, 0-1 LEC) last season but played well right out of the gate. "This was a tremendous team effort," said senior-captain Ollie Hunter (Bedford, N.H.). "Everything was clicking early and it was nice to see a lot of different face contribute as well."

After trailing 2-0 and 4-2, KSC went on a scoring tare, outscoring UMD 53-23 the rest of the half. For the game the Owls finished at exactly 50 percent from the field (34-of-68) and held UMass Dartmouth to only 27.5 percent from the field (19-of-69). "As well as our offense played I think our defense created scoring for us," said Martin. "When we guard well it creates solid transition opportunities for us and allowed us to share the ball better."

Martin and three others hit double-digit points in the victory for KSC. Hunter and senior forward Derek D'Amours (Agawam, Mass.) each dropped 14 points, while junior forward Eric Fazio (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) finished with 11 points.

Sophomore center Montel Walcott (New Haven, Conn.) led the Owls with eight rebounds, while senior Orlando Echevarria (Chelsea, Mass.) come off the bench to pull down seven caroms.

Corsairs center Lance Greene (Dorchester, Mass.) finished with a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds. Coming off the bench, freshman center Alex Rodrigues (Fall River, Mass.) had 13 points and six rebounds in the losing effort.

The Owls return to action Wednesday, as they will travel to national powerhouse Williams College for a 7 p.m. tip-off. "We have a strong history with them," said Colbert. "We beat them a few years ago and they knocked us out of the Elite-Eight in 2004. They are a very good team but are pretty good too so it will be interesting to see what happens."