KEENE, N.H 11/15/13 –  Husson University spoiled Keene State College's home opener, defeating the new-look Owls 81-76 at Spaulding Gym on Friday night.

A late-game 6-1 run gave the Eagles (1-0) enough breathing room to hold off a late-charge by the Owls (0-1). 

Sophomore Nate Howard (Cheshire, Conn.) led five Owls in double-figures with a career high 12 points and 18 rebounds.  Used sparingly last season, Howard enjoyed the additional playing time.  "It's a good feeling to contribute a lot more this year," said Howard.  "I was trying to go after the rebounds and help my team as much as I could.  We had good energy, but just came up short."

"We talked about building a team that competes and I thought we did that.  It took us awhile to get going and find a way to guard them" said KSC Coach Rob Colbert. "They made some big plays and we didn't answer. They hit some dagger threes and the free throw shooting was a big difference.  Either we missed them or we put them on the line and they didn't miss."  

While Husson hit 50% of its three-pointers (8-19) and went 21-30 at the line (70%), the Owls struggled, going 5-21 behind the arc (24%) and 17-31 at the line (55%).

Unveiling a line-up that included four new starters and two freshmen (Jeff Lunn and Lucas Hammel), the Owls found themselves trailing 38-24 following a jumper by Husson senior Corey Wood (Laurel, Md.).

Keene State rallied behind Howard who made a block on one end of the court and then came down to hit a reverse lay-up to make it 40-31 with 1:21 to go in the half.

KSC got the ball back after a backcourt violation with 3.8 seconds on the clock, but junior Tom Doyle (Wallingford, Coon.) couldn't hit a three-pointer at the buzzer as the Owls trailed 42-32 at halftime. KSC struggled behind the arc in the first half hitting just one of their 10 shots.  Meanwhile, the Eagles hit 14 of their 16 free throw attempts.   

The Owls kept on chipping away on the Eagles lead.  Sophomore Nick Gagliolo (Peabody, Mass.) knocked down a three-pointer to make it 50-45 with 14:21 to go.  A drive and free throw by sophomore Tre Tipton (Stamford, Conn.) made it a one point game (54-53) at the 10:55 mark.

After a spurt by the Eagles, freshman Lucas Hammel (Methuen, Mass.) got the Owls to within one (70-69) with 4:56 to with a spinning lay-up.

However, Husson pulled away down the stretch.  A lay-up by freshman Raheem Anderson (Everglades, Fla.) made it 76-70 with 3:22 to play.   KSC made one last run at the Eagles. After Wood hit one of two free throws to put Husson up 77-72, Doyle drove the lane for lay-up, cutting the lead to 77-74 with 48 seconds on the clock. 

Fouled driving the baseline, senior Brooks Spaulding (Fairfield Me.) hit both of his shot to give the Eagles a 79-74 lead with 21 seconds to go.  Hammel found Howard for a dunk that cut the lead to 79-76 with 10 seconds to play.   Fouled on the inbounds play, junior Aaron Willis (New York, N.Y.) he hit his two shots making it 81-76and put the game out of reach for the Owls.

Gagliolo also hit for a career high 12 points.  Tipton scored 11 points while Doyle and Hammel each had 10 points.  Doyle also tied his career high with 10 rebounds.

Husson, the defending North Atlantic Conference (NAC) champs, also had five players finish in double-figures led by Willis who had a game high 16 points.  Spaulding scored 14 points; senior Donte Cootonham (Silver Springs, Md.) had 11 points while classmate Jacob Moore (Hampden, Me.) finished with a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds).

"It's disappointing, but we have some stuff to work on," said Colbert.  "We have a long way to go."

Keene State host Elms College on Tuesday (7 p.m.).