KEENE, N.H.--Tom Doyle scored 22 of his 28 points in the first half as the Keene State College men's basketball team opened up a huge lead, beating the University of Southern Maine 84-65 on Saturday afternoon.

Doyle was 10-for-10 from the free throw line and 4-for-7 from behind the arc.  The senior was one of three Keene State players in double-figures, with Nate Howard adding 15 points and nine rebounds and Matt Ozzella scoring 12 points.

Keene State shot the ball extremely well, connecting on 29 of 55 shots from the field (52.7%) and 21 of 23 from the foul line (91.3%).

Cole Libby and Jacob Littlefield led the Huskies with 18 points each.  

The Owls are now 15-4 overall, and 6-3 in the Little East Conference.  KSC is tied with Rhode Island College at 6-3 in the LEC ahead of this Saturday's meeting in Keene.  The Anchormen won the first meeting of the season 74-58 in Providence on Jan. 10.  

Doyle and Howard staked Keene State to a quick 12-3 lead.  Howard dunked off a feed from Dizel Wright on the opening possession of the game, and Doyle knocked down a pair of three pointers and Howard added two more free throws.

Five straight points from Littlefield and a layup from Fred Knight trimmed the lead to 12-11, and the Huskies took a 21-18 lead with 9:05 to play in the first half on a foul shot by Zach Leal.

From there, it was all Keene State.  The Owls ended the half on a 34-8 run to take a commanding 54-29 lead at halftime.

Two more free throws from Howard gave KSC a 31-23 lead, and Paul Emdin knocked down a jumper and a three point basket on the next two possessions for KSC to stretch the advantage to 11.

Eight consecutive points from Doyle upped the lead to 44-25 with 3:02 left in the first half.

Consecutive baskets by Jeff Lunn Early in the second half increased the lead to 62-32, but the Huskies hung around, closing to within 13 on a three pointer by Libby with 5:23 to go. Ozzella responded with a hoop on KSC's next possession, and KSC never let the Huskies within 16 the rest of the way.

"The first half I thought we played exceptionally hard.  We were really aggressive," said head coach Rob Colbert.  Maybe not as much in the second half but we did what we had to do to win.  We shot the ball very well from the free throw line.  Nate had some big rebounds at critical times for us."

Before the Owls return home to face Rhode Island College, KSC will play its final non-conference game of the year with a trip to Middlebury College on February 3.  Southern Maine will head to in-state foe Colby College on the same date.