CASTLETON, Vt. – Mitch Shettles was a perfect 4-for-4 shooting from three-point range in the first half to help the Keene State College men's basketball team build a 25-point halftime lead and the Owls were never remotely threatened, waltzing to an 87-65 road victory over Vermont State University Castleton in both teams' Little East Conference opener Wednesday night at Glenbrook Gymnasium.

The beauty of shooters is they just keep shooting and shooting – and making and making.  And that is what the sharp-shooting Shettles is doing these days, finishing 5-for-7 from deep on the night for a team-best 17 points.  Since a brief slump in Virginia, the Owl senior – taking on a bigger role this year – has been nails, keeping his team in every game, or in the case of their first win against Nichols College, putting on a show with 26 points.  Overall in the last five games, he is an eye-catching 18-for-34 (53 percent) from beyond the arc.

Tonight, he put on a shooting show, but so did many of his teammates as KSC (3-4, 1-0 LEC) went 10-for-18 from deep in the first half and built a lead as high as 53-26 before a jumper by the Spartans' (2-5, 0-1 LEC) Ben Seiler right before the buzzer.  Castleton, who has lost all 17 all-time meetings against the Owls, never got closer than 24 in the second half before a layup with 1:06 left set the final margin.  KSC used a 9-4 scoring spurt early out of the locker room to take a 64-34 advantage on the final of Shettles' five triples.

"Mitch is a high-level shooter and we are going to have to work as a staff to make sure he keeps getting clean looks, as he is certainly at the top of the scout for our opponents," said Owls head coach Steve Enright, who helped guide KSC to their unprecedented fourth consecutive Little East championship a season ago.

Keene State took a Spartans team who is continuing to try to find their footing in the league out of the game quickly, as Shettles buried threes on consecutive possessions within the first five minutes to give the Owls a 15-8 advantage.  His third in the opening seven minutes still had KSC up seven, and Josh Williams joined in on the three-point fun of his own to push the lead into double-figures at the 11:31 mark of the first half.  Ryan Blakey and Liam Johnston canned long balls of their own on back-to-back trips two minutes later to make it 33-17 and the Owls were well on their way to a crushing first half, as a jumper by Blakey with 6:52 left made it 40-21 and Jordan Cooper followed with a dunk 30 seconds later off a Castleton miss.  Sam Medalie became the sixth different Owl to hit a three in the opening half when his make gave KSC 51 on the board in the final minute.

The Owls forced 13 Castleton turnovers in the first half and 20 for the game while also finishing 19-for-33 from the field in the opening 20 minutes.  Shettles and Leo Chaikin combined to score 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the floor in 26 first half minutes.

KSC saw 13 different players score overall, including a third double-digit scoring effort in the last four games for Denis Wainaina, who totaled 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, three rebounds, two assists, and two blocks in 23 minutes.

"Denis is developing offensively," said Enright.  "His strength is still on the defensive end, but if he can continue to develop as an interior scorer that will significantly help our team."

The Owls were predicted to finish first in the preseason league coaches' poll, though not unanimously.  They already became the first program ever to win four straight LEC tournament championships – and have eyes on extending that number in an improved conference, also intentionally scheduling one of the toughest non-conference slates in the country that has included one win over a nationally-ranked team and two three-point losses to two nationally-ranked teams.  Elsewhere, on opening night in the league, Rhode Island College throttled the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth 51-30 in the second half to post an 87-63 home win, Eastern Connecticut State University picked up a 78-73 road win over rival Western Connecticut State University, and Keene State's Saturday opponent the University of Massachusetts-Boston edged the University of Southern Maine at home 77-74, overcoming a 43-35 halftime deficit.

"I thought we made shots and defended in the first half," Enright summarized.  "We did a much worse job in the second half staying disciplined.  With the margin where it was, we did our best to get some reserve guys game reps in the second half."

The Owls and Beacons (3-5, 1-0 LEC) will tip-off at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday (December 6) at Spaulding Gymnasium.  KSC went 3-0 against UMB last season, eliminating them in the LEC semifinals with a comfortable 20-point win.  The Owls have won nine straight in a series they lead 52-9.