KEENE, N.H.  1/5/14 –Junior guard Tom Doyle (Wallingford, Conn.) scored a career high 25 points and freshman point Lucas Hammel (Methuen, Mass.) notched his first college double-double, tying his season high with 12 points to go with a season best 13 assists (one short of the KSC record held by Owl assistant coach Alphonse Michalski) , to lead the Keene State College men's basketball team to a 104-84 non-conference win over Castleton State in a rare Sunday afternoon matinee at Spaulding Gym.

It was also a rare meeting between the two teams, who last met on the court during the 1983-84 season, a 92-70 win by the Spartans.

Winners of three of its last four games, the Owls, who went over the century mark for the first time this season,  improve to 3-6.  Castleton State (4-5) has dropped its last two games.

The Owls showed little rust from its extended 23 day break, jumping out to an early lead against the Spartans.  Returning to form after suffering a concussion earlier in the season, Doyle scored 11 straight points for the Owls. His three-pointer from the left corner game KSC a 14 -6 lead. He finished the half with 14 points.   "I was just trying to work hard like the rest of the team,' said Doyle, who also had six rebounds, four assists, and six steals in the game.  "We had three good practices coming into the game and it showed on the court."

KSC Coach Rob Colbert said the Owl benefited from getting into the gym over the break.  "We got into the gym for a long period of time over the break and had a mini- training camp," he said.  "We really got after it and straightened some things out. It was nice for our kids to see some results from their labor." 

Keene State continued to add to its lead in the half.  Hammel made a steal and went into for a lay-up that gave the Owls its biggest lead of the half (40-25) with 6:48 to go.

Castleton chipped away at the Owls' lead.  Fouled after hitting a driving lay-up, sophomore Chad Copeland (Plainfield, Vt.) made the free throw to cut the Owls lead to single digits (51-42) with just under a minute to go in the half.

Following an emphatic block by sophomore Nate Howard (Cheshire, Conn.) on a shot by sophomore Rob Coloutti (Fair Haven, Vt.), freshman Matt Ozzella (Medway, Mass.) hit one of his two free throws attempts with two-tenths of a second on the clock to stake KSC to a 56-42 halftime lead.     

Howard was a force at both ends of the court.  After blocking a shot by Copeland, he raced down the court and hit a baseline jumper to make it a 62-44 game early in the second half. "I was just looking to help out my team anyway I can," said Howard who finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.

The Owls picked up the tempo later in the half allowing Hammel to push the ball up court and find his teammates for easy baskets.  "My teammates did a great job getting open.  They hit a lot of great shots," said Hammel. "I like to play a fast pace, so it worked to my advantage."

A follow-up basket by freshman Matt Sherlock (Melrose, Mass.) gave Keene State a 20 point (66-46) lead at the 15:05 mark.

The Spartans made one last run at the Owls.  Copeland hit a pair of free throws to make it a 10 point game 77-67 at the midway point of the half.  However, KSC used the three-ball to build back up its lead. Senor Jim Hepple (Newington, Conn.) finished off a spree of four consecutive three-pointers with a trey from the left corner to give KSC a 98-73 with 4:40 to play.    "The coaches told us that we'd have a lot of open threes," said Hammel.  "We moved the ball quickly and got some open looks."

"I don't think we're a great shooting team, so we really have to pick our spots," said Colbert. "I thought we had a nice balance of inside-out action."    

Freshmen Jaquel Edwards (Manchester, Conn.) and Jeff Lunn (Nashua, N.H.) rounded out the list of Owls in double figures with 14 points and 10 points respectively.  Edwards, who was making his first start of the season, hit seven of his 11 shots from the field to tie his season high and also pulled down a game high 10 rebounds.

Overall, KSC had a good day shooting the ball, hitting 43-80 (54%) from the field and going  9-26 (35%) behind the arc. They were also 9-18 (50%) from the line.  The Owls also dominated the glass 48-33, grabbing 19 offensive rebounds.

Copeland led the Spartans with 20 points while junior Chad Pulver (Bennington, Vt.) and senior Tyler Ackley (Scotia, N.Y.) each finishing with 11 points.  Junior Carnelius Green (Oviedo, Fla.) had a team high six rebounds. Castleton hit just six of its 25 three-pointers.

With the break behind them, the Owls have a big week ahead of them with a couple of home games, Tuesday against Lasell and a Little East contest on Saturday against Rhode Island College.  Colbert is taking it one game at a time.  "All I know is we're playing Lasell in two days," he said.  "We have to keep working. We're not that good right now in relationship to where we need to be or where we're going to be at the end.  All you can do is keep grinding away, but it's a nice start."