KEENE, N.H. – Liam Johnston was scorching early to get the Keene State College men's basketball team going, Kareem Porter Jr. helped keep the lead, and Jordan Cooper sizzled late as the Owls shot 50 percent in the second half to pull away to a comfortable 79-61 Little East Conference victory over Vermont State University Castleton on Tuesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Highlights
Postgame Interview (Coach Enright)
Postgame Interview (Liam Johnston)

The much-needed win will keep the Owls (10-9, 6-4 LEC) at minimum in fifth place in the conference standings entering Saturday's action after the remainder of the league plays their midweek games tomorrow, and also keeps them well within reach of the No. 2 seed (and one of the two quarterfinal byes to go along with a semifinal home game) as February quickly approaches.  Tomorrow, first place University of Massachusetts-Boston travels to the University of Southern Maine – who KSC will see next – while Western Connecticut State University visits Eastern Connecticut State University and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth hosts Rhode Island College.

The Owls laid it on the Spartans (5-14, 0-10 LEC) quickly, as Johnston and Porter combined for eight of the first 10 points including two Johnston triples within 20 seconds of each other as KSC led 10-0 less than two minutes in.  The Keene native connected again from deep at the 14:42 mark to make it 15-4, but the home team cooled significantly from there, shooting just 5-for-21 (24 percent) over the remainder of the half as Castleton – despite trailing 26-13 with 8:58 left in the stanza and never leading at any point – climbed within 31-27 at the break.  The Owls also had nine turnovers in the opening 20 minutes and were 5-for-18 from three, but stayed in front thanks to a game-high eight boards by Porter and a defensive effort that limited Spartans' leading scorer Will Radcliff to just a 2-for-9 mark and four points.  The visitors were held to just 11-for-30 shooting themselves but nonetheless hung around far longer than they had in the first meeting, when KSC led 53-28 at halftime in an eventual 22-point road victory.

Castleton was not in it for long in the second half though, as Johnston hit a triple on the first possession and then connected again a minute later to rapidly push the lead to 38-27 at the 18:38 mark.  A Jordan Cooper flush a little over a minute later made it 42-29 and got him going in a half that would see him pour in 16 points on 6-of-11 from the field and 4-of-5 from three.  One of those triples came with 16:42 left to make it 45-30, and KSC pushed the edge to 19 (51-32) on a dunk by Porter and layup from Blakey after a Porter block on consecutive trips.  The Spartans, winless in the league and in last place four games out of the final playoff spot, made one final push to try to make it interesting – mostly from the free throw line – as two Elijah Maldonado tosses from the charity stripe chipped the visitors' deficit to eight with eight minutes to go, but Chaikin's steal and layup in the backcourt as KSC pressured began snuffing out any momentum and four triples in a 1:56 span – three from Cooper and the other by Gabe Marquis – put the Owls ahead 69-50 with 4:47 left and removed any doubt about the outcome.  A layup by Marquis at the 4:14 mark pushed the lead to a game-high 20 as KSC improved to 18-0 against Castleton all-time including 10-0 at Spaulding Gymnasium.

The Owls wound up shooting 45 percent in the game including 12-for-32 (37.5 percent) from three, with Johnston scoring a team-best and career-high 18 points on 6-of-11 from deep.  Cooper (6-13 FG, 4-6 3-PT) finished with 16 thanks to his second half barrage, while Porter dominated the glass with a game-high 16 boards, eight on the offensive end.  Keene State is 5-2 when they make double-digit threes this season and 5-0 when they have at least 16 assists (they had 22 on 29 baskets tonight).

Elijah Maldonado paced Castleton with 17 points (5-12 FG, 6-8 FT) while Joe Buxton had 14 points (6-12 FG).  Radcliff finished 4-for-15 from the field with 11 points – surpassing 1,000 for his career – but was held well below his 20 points per game and was coming off a career-high 36 point effort on 14-of-18 shooting against UMass-Dartmouth on Saturday.

Keene State has won four straight on their home court, improving to 6-3 at Spaulding Gymnasium this season with three regular season home games remaining.

The Owls' matchup with Southern Maine (11-7, 6-3 LEC) will be an important one for seeding, as the Huskies currently sit a half game up on KSC with a home matchup against UMass-Boston looming tomorrow.  The Owls crushed USM 96-75 at Spaulding Gymnasium in early January, the first of the current four straight home victories.