Keene State (1-0) is coming off a 2014-15 campaign that saw the team go 20-9 and play in the NCAA Championships. For the Eagles to hang there with a team of this caliber speaks volumes of the rapid improvement of the state of the program.
Sampson Dale (Charlottesville, Va.) scored the Eagles' first points of the season with a one-handed floater in the lane after pump faking to get his defender in the air.
However, with so many new faces the Eagles struggled at the outset on the offensive end of the floor turning the ball over several times. The Owls, with more experience playing together, were able to run their offense in the early going and headed into the first time out with a 27-14 lead.
Green Mountain (0-1) was able to hang around in the first half as it got to the line often as Keene Sate had a difficult time dealing with tight calls regarding the hand checking restrictions. Thomas Brown (Charlottesville, Va.) was a major recipient of the calls hitting all 10 of his freebies in the opening half.
The Eagles cut the lead to eight on Mychal Parker's (Washington, N.C.) three-pointer with 4:06 remaining in the first half to cut the deficit to 36-28.
After trading baskets back-and-forth over the final five minutes of play, the Eagles' Jared Carithers (Washington, D.C.) hit a three-pointer as the half ended to narrow the gap to 47-41.
Parker dominated play in the opening minute and a half of the second stanza scoring six-straight points on a pair of layups and a dunk to tie the score, 47-47.
Green Mountain took its first lead of the game at the 15:19 mark as Cameron Anderson nailed a three to make the score 52-50.
After multiple lead changes, Nate Stitchell hit a 3-pointer and Dizel Wright notched a layup and a free throw to give the hosts a 76-69 lead.
Anderson drove to the basket for a layup while drawing a foul at the 5:49 mark. He immediately completed the and-one play by sinking the ensuing free throw to draw the Eagles back to within four at 79-75.
The Owls used back-to-back fast break buckets off Eagle misses to extend its lead to ten at 89-79 with 4:01 remaining.
Ginsberg hit two free throws after being fouled on a drive to the hoop to close the gap to 92-87 and then after getting a stop, Ginsberg had the ball stripped on a questionable no call after corralling an offensive rebound.
The Owls hit a pair of free throws after being quickly fouled. The hosts then came up with a timely steal and converted a fast break layup to put them up 97-89 with 1:46 to play.
Down the stretch, the Eagles traded free throws with the Owls until Brown converted a three-point play after getting fouled as he drove to the basket to reduce the lead to 106-104. However, the Eagles couldn't manage to hit the equalizer as the Owls weathered the storm in the final seconds.
Without playing for the majority of the second half without Parker who left with an injury and having Dale foul out with 5 minutes left to play, the Eagles could have found themselves staring at a sizeable deficit, but the team banded together and fought to the wire having a chance to tie or take a lead as late as 21 seconds remaining in the game. That competitive fire will serve the team well as the season progresses.
Nearly 40 percent of the Eagles' points came at the charity stripe as the team hit 40-of-49 (81.6 percent) free throws in a game riddled with 74 total fouls. The Eagles emerged as the victor on the glass notching a 49-46 edge in rebounds.
Carithers was the Eagles' top scorer, netting 23 points with three 3-pointers on top of 11 rebounds. Anderson was efficient from the field (8-of-13) in getting 21 points to go with his game-high twelve rebounds and five blocked shots. Brown and Parker also hit double figures with 19 and 16 points, respectively. Parker did his damage in just 16 minutes due to his injury.
Green Mountain will face the loser of the evening's second game which pits Elms against Endicott in tomorrow's consolation game set for 3 p.m.