At 7-0, Nate Howard has turned into a big force for Keene State, averaging 15.2 points per game and shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor. Keene State athletics photo

Although Keene State is a member of the Little East Conference, there is nothing diminutive about the Owls’ men’s basketball team this season.

Presently 8-0 overall, 2-0 in the LEC, and with wins against UMass Boston (7-3) on Dec. 6 and Springfield (6-3) on Nov. 25, the Keene State Owls have an early season record to be proud of and one that is a far cry from last year’s start.

After losing their top four scorers following the 2012-13 season, including Ryan Martin (15.6 points per game) and Anthony Mariano (12.2 per game), the Owls lost their first five games last season and went 2-6 in their first eight. KSC ended up 8-17 (5-9), but salvaged the development of underclassmen and moral victories in playing well during the last 10 games. 

“You don’t graduate 4,500 in [combined career] points and not feel a loss of sorts,” coach Rob Colbert said by phone. “We didn’t necessarily play as well early as we would have liked … Despite the record, I thought in the last eight, nine, 10 games we were right there. …

“Where we left off last year is a little bit where we picked up this year. So we really developed last year.”

What Colbert would like to see from his program and this year’s team especially is balance and consistency. Colbert has worked at KSC for 18 years, 16 of which have been in the head coaching seat. While at the helm of the Owls’ men’s basketball team, he has won four LEC regular season titles and one LEC tournament championship, and has made an NCAA Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen, in 2004 and 2007 respectively. He’s also amassed a 256-133 record while at KSC.

“I think it’s important for us to establish a more consistent approach, in the sense of not having those down, lean years,” Colbert said. “ … We had been capable of winning in the high-teens or the twenties for most of our career here; and, I think that enables you to have more opportunity to get onto that national stage.

“So trying to avoid the waves or the cycle of winning and then getting down and having to be built back up, to be more consistent is probably one of I my immediate goals.”

This year’s team, on the other hand, couldn’t be built better for a good run. The Owls have a requisite amount of experience, they have youthful energy and athleticism, and they have size. Nat Howard, the Owls’ left-handed 7-foot center, has started to come into his own, averaging 15.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. Howard, a junior, has put on 28 pounds of muscle, according to Colbert, since his arrival in Keene and has also developed a shot from 15 feet that allows him to take advantage of any over-commit by the defense. 

In addition to Howard, Tom Doyle, the Owls’ leading scorer at 19 points per game, and a bevy of underclassmen, including Dizel Wright (Fr.), Matt Ozzella (So.) and Jaquel Edwards (So.), all averaging more than 7.0 points per game, are key components to a balanced offensive attack.

The Owls run a hybrid motion offense that depends on players making reads and initiating action from what the defense (as is commonly said) gives them. On defense, KSC uses a full-court press, as has been the case since Colbert arrived, and a “pack” defense in the half court.

One of the major issues last year was that the inexperienced Owls were not proficient in their defense, lacking a disruptive mentality, and had problems grasping an interpretative offense system.

“Defensively, I think we’re a little bit more sound in the full court. I think we’ve gained some speed and athleticism. In terms of making people uncomfortable, I think we’ve gotten better at that in the full court. And on the offensive end, I think we’ve simplified what we do. We don’t do a ton of stuff, we just do it a little bit better. And the third thing is we’re making shots.”

And making shots, as trite and smelling of coach-speak as it sounds, is the name of the game. KSC is shooting 48.7 percent from the field, which has been helped by Nate Howard’s 58.4 percent shooting. The Owls are shooting 34.4 percent from beyond the arc and averaging 89.4 points. Those numbers are pretty big improvements from last year, when the Owls had a field goal percentage of 40.1, 3-point percentage of 27.7, and were averaging 12 points less per game.

Even though KSC is recovering from a down-wave and a low-point of the cycle, Colbert is enthused by the opportunity to begin a new pattern.

“Each and every year you’re forced to kind of evaluate where you are and what’s possible,” he said. “And it’s such an exciting time to be here. We have a new leadership team at campus, who have great vision for the institution. …

“I’d like to go to places we haven’t been. You know getting to the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen was just inspiring and getting back to that point is definitely an immediate goal. Pushing past that point, possibly getting to a final four, national championship — as crazy as that may sound — that’s obviously the goal.”

A consistently successful team is dependent on getting the right players, the right student and the right people. The type of player Colbert wants is he who has been shaped, in some way, by adversity and knows how to rise up and make buckets.

“We have to continue to harp on and identify kids who have faced challenge in their life and watch how they have faced that challenge, watch how they have faced that adversity, and again have balance in their life.”

The stage has been set, the cycle renewed. Keene State’s future is ripe for a new run, with the “old” guy leading the way.

Not your father’s Amherst

At least that’s true so far this season. The Amherst Lord Jeffs lost to Brandeis on Dec. 9, 78-58, and lost to Babson last Thursday, 68-49. The loss to Brandeis (3-5) — and by 20 points — was more embarrassing for the Jeffs than the loss to 8-1 Babson, with Joey Flannery leading the Beavers’ scoring attack this season at 24.5 points per game.

The Jeffs are young, really young. On the roster, 11 out of the 15 players are underclassmen, four of which (Jayde Dawson, Johnny McCarthy, David George and Jacob Nabatoff) are starters.  The inexperience on the team has been compounded by the loss of an all-time player in Aaron Toomey. Toomey averaged 19.9 points and 5.2 rebounds in 2013-14. He is also the Amherst men’s career leader in points, with 2,033.

The Jeffs, led by the hall of famer David Hixon, will have motivation, a Lord’s worth, when they come back from break and play Drew on Dec. 30. Watch out.

More on Amherst and David Hixon in next week’s column.