KEENE, N.H 12/5/13 – Sophomore Nate Howard (Cheshire, Conn.) made sure the Keene State men's basketball team got its first win of the season on Thursday night at Spaulding Gym. The Owls' big-man had a big night with career high 20 points and 23 rebounds to lead Keene State to a 79-73 non-conference victory over Colby-Sawyer College. 

"I'm really proud of our kids.  There was a lot of pressure on them," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  They're young, but they still are carrying around an expectancy to win.  So I'm proud of them for staying resilient and getting this first win under their belt."

"This guy is story the story," said Colbert looking over to Howard following the game. 

"It a good feeling to get the first one," said Howard, who also had four blocks and two steals.  "I just tried to attack the rim and get fouls.  The guys were driving and dumping the ball off to me and I was able to get some easy baskets." 

A back-and-forth first half featured 12 lead changes and 11 ties. The Owls (1-5) opened up a little breathing room in the closing minute.  Freshman Jaquel Edwards (Manchester, Conn.) hit a three-pointer and a free throw to put KSC up 38-34.  Pressing on the inbounds pass, freshman Matt Sherlock (Melrose, Mass.) stole the ball and scored on a finger-roll lay-up to give Keene State a 40-34 halftime lead.

KSC made an effort to get the ball inside to Howard and he responded with 10 points and nine rebounds in the first half.

Sophomore Tre Tipton (Stamford, Conn.) helped the Owls pull away from the Chargers with eight minutes to play.  After making a steal, Tipton was fouled and hit a couple of free throws.  In the Owls' next possession, he found Howard underneath for a lay-up that put KSC up 57-51 with seven minutes to go.  "We've been just drilling a way in practice," said Tipton, who had nine points, four assists and two steals. "We forced them into a lot of turnovers and made them feel uncomfortable."

"It feels nice to finally get a win," Tipton added.  "We've been close so many times this year and we finally got one."

Howard, who controlled the boards all game, hit a jump hook to give Keene State a 61-54 lead with five minutes to go.

Nothing has come easy for the Owls, who had to work for the win.  Junior Mike Dias (Carver, Mass.) hit a jumper in the lane to get the Chargers within a point (62-61) with 3:40 to play.  Tipton answered with a lay-up and Edwards hit a couple from the line to push the Owls' lead back up to five points (66-61) at the 2:47 mark.  After a Colby-Sawyer timeout, KSC's press resulted in another steal and lay-up by Edwards. 

"We wanted to make them turn the ball over.  We've been working on that in practice," said Edwards, who finished with a season high 12 points to go with eight rebounds and a couple of steals.  

"We did get some turnovers and we did get some hoop, so we didn't have to go back and sit and guard for a long periods of time," said Colbert.  "We were able to stay aggressive and be the hunter and I thought that was important."

Howard hit a short jumper in the lane to put KSC up 70-63 and on the other end of the floor made an emphatic block on a shot by Dias.  A baseline drive by junior Jim Hepple (Newington, Conn.) made it 72-63 with 1:24 to go.

The Chargers made one last run, cutting the Owls lead to 73-68 with 27 second to play.  After KSC almost gave the ball away on the inbounds play, Tipton was fouled and hit two free throws to make 75-68.   A three-pointer by junior Koang Thok (Portland, Maine) cut the lead to 77-73.  However, Tipton hit a couple from the line in the closing seconds to make it 79-73 and seal the victory.

Dias scored 20 points, sophomore Wol Majong (Manchester, N.H.) and Thok each had 15 points while sophomore Peter Donato (Portland, Maine) finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds for Colby-Sawyer (1-3).

KSC shot 40% (24-60) from the field, went 5-19 behind the arc (26%) and hit 26 of its 36 shots (72%) from the line.   The Owls had a 48-39 advantage on the boards.

The Owls return to LEC play on Saturday (3 p.m.) when they travel to UMass-Boston.