Box Score CASTLETON, Vt.--Jeff Lunn scored a career high 22 points as the Keene State College men's basketball team began 2015 with an 84-65 win over Castleton State College on Saturday afternoon at Glenbrook Gym.
Lunn, who was making his first start of the season, led three players in double figures for the Owls. The forward shot 11-for-16 for 22 points and eight rebounds while Tom Doyle added 16 points and three assists, including 13 in the second half to put the game away. Matt Ozella chipped in with 11 points and six boards while Lucas Hammel dished off a team-high seven assists to go with his seven points.
The Owls outrebounded the Spartans by a 42-23 margin, including an impressive 18 offensive boards while shooting 59.5 percent in the first half to improve to 9-1 overall. KSC finished the game at 49.3 percent shooting, including 9-for-20 from beyond the arc.
"It was a group contribution, led by Jaquel Edwards and Jeff Lunn. That's two games in a row for Jeff, and they stepped up when we needed them. "I thought we played a lot better than we did the other night (Plattsburgh State), this time we played hard and played well. They made a nice run, and Tom Doyle spread the lead back out with a couple big threes.
Castleton jumped out to a 10-4 lead early, with a Copeland jumper at 17:15 prompting a KSC 30-second timeout. The Owls regrouped and scored nine straight following another Copeland hoop to take the lead 18-12. The Spartans pulled back within three on a triple by Coloutti at 11:18, but a 10-3 spurt gave KSC a 29-20 advantage. Coloutti then cut it to 31-24 with 7:56 left, but the Owls finished the half on a 20-8 run for the 51-36 lead at the break.
A 6-2 run to open the second half by Castleton cut the deficit to 53-43, the final bucket being a triple in the corner from Casey McGraw with 16:43 left. The Owls went on another scoring spurt, but six straight by the Spartans made it 59-49 with 13:13 remaining. KSC pushed its lead to 14 over the next five minutes, but a 6-2 Castleton run trimmed the lead to 67-57 at 7:23 on a layup by Mushandu.
Green helped the Spartans pull within eight on a nice play following an offensive rebound with 5:54 left, however, Doyle swished back-to-back threes to make it a 14-point game. Pavin Parrish brought Castleton back within 11, 73-62, at 3:49 on a triple but they wouldn't get any closer as the Owls finished with the 19-point victory.
Three players scored in double figures for the Spartans, as Carnelius Green, Chad Copeland and Rob Coloutti each recorded ten points. Green added seven rebounds, three assists and a block while Copeland finished with three rebounds and three assists. Tondi Mushandu had a strong second half and finished the game with six points, three rebounds and a team-high four assists.
The Spartans look to get back on track when they host Colby-Sawyer on Tuesday at 7:30 pm. Keene State heads to Rhode Island College on January 10 for a key Little East Conference contest that begins at 3 pm.
(Story courtesy Castleton State Athletics)
$website.include("FBHTML")
