'KEENE, N.H.  2/22/03  –  Six Keene State players scored in double-figures, including Adam Gervais (Chelsea, Me.) with a season high 20 points, to lead the Owls over UMA-Dartmouth 100-83 in a regular-season ending Little East game played Saturday in Keene.

Winners of seven of its last eight games, Keene State (19-6, 10-4 LEC) will enter the LEC Tournament as the third seed.  Plymouth State, which edged R.I. College (78-75) also has a 10-4 conference record, but earns the higher seed in the tiebreaker. KSC will host sixth seed Eastern CT on Tuesday in an opening round tournament contest at 7:30 p.m.

Getting several easy baskets on transition and hitting their three-point shots, the Owls raced out to a 61-36 half-time lead against the Corsairs. Gervias came off the bench to score 15 first half points for KSC, which shot a scorching 64% for the field (22-for-64) and hit seven of nine (78%) behind the arc.

"We had on our minds what they did to us at their place (a 94-84 loss in No. Dartmouth) and we know what we wanted to do," Gervias said. 

The freshman center felt it was just a matter of confidence when it came to his strong offensive day.  "When the first one goes in it feels like everything is going to be good," he said. 

"I think our kids were ready to play," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  "There were some arguments that the game didn't have as much meaning as other games in the league today.  But from our standout, it did have meaning in the seedings and who we would be playing."

Chris Timson (Beverly, MA.) finished with 15 points, and Alphonse Michalski (Northampton, MA.) had a fine overall game with 14 points, five rebounds and seven assists.  Matt Wheeler (Shrub Oak, N.Y.) had 13 points; Derek Swenson (Attleboro, MA.) added 11 points and Sean Sullivan (Athol, MA.) finished with 10 points to round out the double-figure scorers for KSC. Bennett Pawlusiak (Manchester, N.H.) also had nine points and nine rebounds.

"We wanted to build some momentum going into the tournament," said Swenson, who along with senior Kyle Purinton (Northwood, N.H) were playing in their final home regular season game.  "I thought we did a great job executing our game plan."

Tim Gaspar (Dartmouth, MA.) had a game-high 33 points and Brian Cagle (Norwich, CT) finished with 19 points and 19 rebounds to lead UMD (12-13, 7-7 LEC), who will face UMA-Boston in its opening round conference game on Tuesday.

It was the third time this season the Owls have scored 100 or more points.

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