La Plume, Pa. – Keystone College had six players reach double-figures in a 96-76 victory over Centenary University on Wednesday evening as the Giants snapped a six-game losing skid with a big Colonial States Athletic Conference triumph in the Gambal Athletic Center. Keystone improves to 6-14 overall and 3-10 in conference play with the win while the Cyclones fall to 10-10 on the year and 6-7 in the CSAC.
Perry Belcher (Orlando, Fla./Colonial) and
Deion Monroe (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston ) tied for the team-lead with 16 points apiece with Belcher falling one assist shy of a triple-double after pulling down 12 rebounds and dishing out nine assists.
Khyle Diaz (East Miramar, Fla./Pembroke Pines Charter) (15),
ShaShawn Drayton (Monticello, N.Y./Monticello) (13),
Bryan Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Rialto) (13), and
Mark Gilliam (Philadelphia, Pa./High School of the Future) (11) also reached double-figures as the Giants avenged a 106-101 overtime defeat at Centenary on January 18.
Keystone raced out to a 12-0 lead over the first 4:09 of Wednesday's contest before Centenary used a 15-3 burst to tie the game at 15-apiece with 11 and a half minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
Centenary briefly went ahead 25-23 before the Giants battled back to tie the score at 29-29 with four minutes left in the half. Keystone outscored the Cyclones 13-5 the rest of the way to hold a 42-34 advantage at halftime.
Belcher led all players with 11 points in the first half to go along with five assists, Gilliam netted nine points, and Drayton added seven points and seven rebounds in the period for Keystone. The Giants connected on 50 percent of their field goal attempts including a 5-11 showing from three-point range over the opening 20 minutes of action.
Hamp Smith netted eight points while Rashaan Spencer chipped in with seven points for Centenary as the Cyclones shot 40 percent from the floor in the first half along with a 3-11 effort from long distance.
Centenary trimmed its deficit to 50-46 early in the second half before Keystone used a 14-4 spurt to open up a 64-50 advantage with just over 11 minutes left in regulation. The Cyclones chipped away to get the host's lead down to 10 points with 5:38 remaining, but the Giants maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way to pull away with the 20-point victory.
Drayton hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds to collect a double-double while
John Kirkpatrick (Philadelphia, Pa./Northeast) snagged 11 boards as Keystone recorded a season-high 57 rebounds to 33 for Centenary.
Monroe and
Ray Mills (Philadelphia, Pa./Overbrook) added six assists apiece for the Giants, who shot 51.4 percent from the field in the win including a 48.1 percent clip from downtown with 13 made three-pointers.
Spencer netted a game-high 20 points for the Cyclones and was joined in double-figures by Zachary Duymich (14), Smith (13), Paul Jones (12), and Jake Logue (10). Smith led the visitors with nine rebounds while Jones added five helpers for Centenary, who went 38.9 percent from the field in the loss including a 31.8 percent effort from three-point range.
Keystone will visit Cabrini University on Saturday afternoon for a CSAC contest starting at 1:00 p.m. in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
