MCLA Men drop road tilt at Keene

Keene, NH- The MCLA Men's basketball team saw its three day winning streak come to an end in a 104-79 loss to Keene State Tuesday night.  With the setback, the Trailblazers are now 4-3 on the season, while Keene improves to 7-1.  Jamal Brown led MCLA with 18 Points.

Owl Sophomore Eric Fazio (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), who connected on seven of his nine shots from the field, had a team high 16 points followed by sophomore Ryan Martin (Wayne, Me.) who finished with 15 points.

Tyrell Mosley added 12 points, while senior Jon Greenburg (Antwerp, Belgium) pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds.

The Owl used a couple of runs to pull away from the Trailblazers in the first half.  Leading 25-16, KSC outscored MCLA 14-3 to go up 39-22 on four consecutive free throws, two by Martin after a MCLA technical and another pair by sophomore Geoff Woodbury (Hyde Park, Mass.) on a foul.

With 3:43 to go, KSC finished the half with a 13-3 run to take a 55-34 halftime lead.  The run included three baskets from behind the arc by junior Derek D'Amours (Agawam, Mass.) and a crowd-pleasing reverse slam by sophomore Rashad Wright (Agawam, Mass.).  "I'm starting to find my rhythm," said D'Amours, who missed the first four games of the season.  "We took care of business tonight. We're getting ready for league play, so it's good to get a few wins under our belt."

D'Amours had a fine overall game with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 16 minutes of play.

Keene State never let MCLA get into the game.  A drive by D'Amours extended the Owls lead to 30 points (74-44) five minutes into the second half. Late in the half, the Owls hit the century mark for the third time this season on a free throw by freshman Montel Walcott (New haven, Conn.) that put KSC up 100-74 with 2:35 to play. Walcott finished with a season high 12 points and nine rebounds.

Sophomore Anthony Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.) scored 12 points and sophomore Orlando Echevarria (Chelsea, Mass.) chipped in with  a season best 10 points to round-out the double-figure scores for KSC.

After a slow start, the Owls heated up, shooting 50% from the field (34-68) and hitting nine of their 16 three-point attempts (56%). KSC also outrebounded MCLA 57-40 margin.

Keene State returns to Little East play on Saturday when it hosts Southern Maine.  MCLA hosts New England College on Thursday.