DURHAM N.H. – Nick Guadarrama(Newington, Conn.) shared team-high scoring honors with 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Jayden Martinez (Chiblo, Texas) added a double-double with 14 points and 14 boards to power the UNH men's basketball team to Wednesday afternoon's season-opening 93-54 victory over Keene State College at Lundholm Gym.
Blondeau Tchoukuiengo (Montreal, Quebec) tallied career highs of 18 points, four assists (tied for career best) and four steals, Nick Johnson (Bronx, N.Y.) hit 6 of 8 field-goal attempts in his collegiate debut for 12 points, and Chris Lester (Barrington, Ill.) scored nine points, pulled down eight rebounds and handed out three assists.
UNH (1-0) outscored KSC 51-23 in the second half courtesy of 55.6 percent shooting (20-36) from the floor. For the game, the Wildcats shot 49.3 percent (37-75) from the floor and connected on 8 of 9 free throws (88.9 percent). Blondeau Tchoukuiengo (Photo by Michelle Bronner)
Jeric Cichon led the Division III Owls with 13 points, Nate Siow added 12 and Jeff Hunter chipped in with 11 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED 1st Half
•The teams swapped the lead six times in the first 5:25 before UNH took the advantage for good at 12-10 on a layup from K.J. McClurg (Morgantown, W.Va. / 8 points, 4-5 FG).
•After the Owls closed to within 22-20 with 5:19 left before halftime, the 'Cats ended the half on a 20-11 run to lead 42-21 at the break.
•Eight players scored in the first half for UNH, which held a 13-0 advantage in bench points and controlled the paint points (22-10).
•Guadarrama paced the effort with 10 first-half points on 4-for-6 shooting. K.J. McClurg (Photo by Michelle Bronner)
2nd Half
•UNH put distance between itself and KSC by scoring the first 11 points of the second half to build a 53-31 lead.
•The lead extended to a game-high 44 points (93-49) on a 3-point bucket from Jon Willeman (Lebanon, N.H.) with 1:20 left.
Notes
•UNH went on an 18-0 run to boost a 36-31 lead with 1:46 remaining in the first half to 54-31 with 15:55 left in the game.
•The Wildcats outscored the Owls in the paint, 56-18, and in second-chance points, 15-2.
•Marque Maultsby (Raleigh, N.C.) scored five points in 16 minutes of action before leaving with an apparent ankle injury. Marque Maultsby (Photo by Michelle Bronner)
BILL HERRION POSTGAME QUOTES
"The whole goal was to try to look out for each other, try to stay safe, and let's try to play a game. And we accomplished that today. We're 1 and 0 and, guess what, we're one of the very select teams in the country that was able to play a college basketball game today."
"We weren't great defensively the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game…and then I said to the guys at halftime, our ball to start the second half. First five minutes we have to lock down and get some separation. To the guys credit, they did that."
"Blondeau was terrific. We think he's going to be a really good point guard for us. Thank God we had him today, thank God he was healthy. He's done a great job coming off his knee injury."
"Respect to Keene State. I know Ryan Cain -I went to high school with his mother… They've had a very good program up there. They are a hard-playing, well-coached basketball team. They're going to be good."
