Junior Tyler Hixson (Shortsville, NY/Red Jacket) scored a career-high 21 points and classmates Adam Starks (Wellsville, NY/Andover) and Trevor Healey (Wethersfield, CT/Wethersfield) each reached double-figures, but the Keuka College men's basketball team fell to Hamilton College 70-60 Friday night in the 2013-14 opener.

Hixson connected on 9 of 14 shots and added six rebounds while Starks added 11 points, 2 steals and 2 rebounds and Healey chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds for the Storm (0-1).

Junior Jared Wagner (Pittsford, NY/McQuaid) added seven points and six rebounds and sophomore Vinney Zambito (Elba, NY/Batavia Notre Dame) tallied six points and a game-high six assists in the loss.

Keuka trailed 53-50 after Healey a layup with 9:36 remaining, but the Continentals (1-0) held the Green and Gold scoreless for four and a half minutes and used a 7-0 run to take a 60-50 lead.

A jumper from Healey snapped the drought, but the Storm were unable to cut the deficit below eight and dropped their season-opener inside the Weed Physical Arts Center.

"There's a lot to build on from tonight. We only had 15 turnovers against a team that pressed us almost the entire game," fourth-year head coach Thad Phillips said. "We didn't shoot the ball extremely well, especially in the first half and especially on 3s. We're going to get better in those things and we had 16 offensive rebounds against a bigger team. I'm real happy with our effort and how hard we competed; we just have to get a little bit better in the execution."

The Continentals jumped out to an 8-0 lead, but the Green and Gold chipped away and trailed 12-10 on a jumper from Starks with 13:53 remaining in the first half. A three from Zambito sliced the lead to 14-13, but Hamilton scored the next six points to take a 20-13 lead halfway through the opening half.

Hixson completed a three-point play, added a layup and Starks converted a three-point play to cap an 8-0 run as the Storm seized a 21-20 lead with 7:55 remaining in the first, but Hamilton closed out the half on a 7-0 run and led 35-28 heading into halftime.

Wagner buried a '3', Hixson hit a jumper and Hixson and Healey hit back-to-back layups to pull the Storm within 38-37 3:25 into the second half, and the teams traded baskets until sophomore Miles Boyer (East Rochester, NY/East Rochester) hit a layup to slice the deficit to 46-44 with 12:46 remaining.

The Storm hung around and trailed only 53-50 when Healey hit his layup, but then Hamilton used the decisive 7-0 run to pull away for good.

Keuka, which shot only 35.5 percent in the first half, connected on 48.3 percent of its shots (14-for-29) in the second half, but Hamilton shot 49 percent (24-for-49) for the game, led by Matt Hart, who had a game-high 24 points on 9 of 17 shooting.

The Storm outrebounded the taller Continentals 37-30, including 16-8 on the offensive glass.

"We were able to get the ball in the post, and when we did we had really good execution," Phillips said. "We had good opportunities to score, but we missed some easy baskets down there. We competed for 40 minutes, and we're going to get better, so for our first game I'm ecstatic about our effort. There is a lot to build on."

Keuka hosts Alfred State at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.