Box Score KEENE, N.H.--The turkey and stuffing will taste a little better this Thanksgiving for the Keene State College men's basketball team, after the Owls rolled to a 100-72 win over No. 25 Springfield College behind a career high 33 points from senior Tom Doyle on Tuesday night.
Keene State is off to its best start since the 2007-08 season, and stays undefeated at 5-0. The Pride see their season opening four game winning streak snap and suffer their first loss of the season.
The Owls shot a sizzling 57.8% from the field for the game, including 64% in the second half, and 10-for-19 from three point range. KSC also outrebounded the Pride 41-26 and forced 17 turnovers.
Doyle was one of five Owls in double-digits, surpassing the 28 he scored last season against Fitchburg State. Nate Howard added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Nick Gagliolo had 12, Dizel Wright 11, and Nate Stitchell 10.
Keene State opened up an early14-8 lead on Jaquel Edwards' jumper with 15:17 left in the first half, but the Pride drew within three on a triple from Brandon Eckles. A 6-1 run over the next three minutes, capped by Stitchell's layup with 11:36 on the clock made it 20-12, and one of five threes on the night from Doyle extended the lead to 29-17 with 7:22 to go in the half.
Springfield came back into the game, courtesy of an 11-4 burst, as Nick Sienkiewicz nailed a three with 4:31 to go to make it 31-28. KSC responded with a 12-1 run to close the half, as Doyle converted a three point play with 40 seconds remaining and Stitchell gave the Owls a 43-29 lead at the break when his heave from beyond half-court banked in at the buzzer.
In the second half, it was all Owls, as Doyle opened the half by scoring KSC's first 11 points to open up a 54-36 lead.
"It's my senior year," said Doyle. "I felt like I was in the zone tonight. It was a statement game for us."
KSC went up 62-40 on a three from Gagliolo with 14:17 on the clock, and Gagliolo nailed another three with 39 seconds left to give the Owls their biggest lead at 100-70.
"I saw a lot of grit on my team tonight," said head coach Rob Colbert. "One of our focusses is to fatigue teams and wear them down. I think fatigue can set in when we're bringing in fresh troops, so depth was definitely the key."
Sean Martin led Springfield with 14 points. Josh Altman had 13, while Larry Prietra had a team high nine rebounds.
KSC will be off until December 4, when the Owls will travel to in-state rival Colby-Sawyer for a 7 p.m. tip. Springfield will head to Trinity (Conn.) on December 3.
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