Hamilton Tops 1,000 Points As Owls Sink Mitchell, 75-66

Westfield State's Juju Omot (Springfield, Mass./Central) scored 20 points to lead the Owls, and Westfield State senior Brendon Hamilton (Worcester, Mass./Worcester Tech) scored his 1,000^th career point as Westfield downed Mitchell College, 75-66 in the opening game of the Mariner-Cadet Classic at the Yarnall Center in New London, Conn. on Friday night. 

Hamilton, who entered the game with 999 career points, removed the suspense early, knocking down a jumper less than 3 minutes into the game to crack the magic number. 

Westfield State moves to 3-1 on the season, while Mitchell slips to 0-2. 

Mitchell led by as many as eight points on several occasions in the first half, and led the Owls 41-36 at the half. 

Westfield chipped away at the lead and grabbed a 48-47 lead on Hamilton's putback dunk at with 15:47 left to play.  The Owls took the lead for good on Lid Moreland's (Bridgeport, Conn.) layup with 9:57 to play that gave Westfield a 56-54 lead. 

A dagger three from Brendan Keaveny (Quincy, Mass.) gave Westfield it's largest lead at 71-64 with 2:01 left to play. 

Moreland added 14 points and five assists for Westfield.   Hamilton finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.  He became the 24^th man in Owls basketball history to crack the 1000-point barrier. 

The Owls will face the Coast Guard Academy tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. on the second day of the classic.