'PROVIDENCE, R.I.  2/8/03  –  Junior guard Alphonse Michalski (Northampton, MA.) led a balanced Owl offense with 20 points to lead the Keene State College men's basketball team to a 80-73 Little East Conference victory over R.I. College in Providence on Saturday.

With the victory, Keene State (15-5, 7-3 LEC) remains in the hunt for the top spot in the LEC while RIC falls to 12-9 and 4-6 in league play.

A 13-3 spurt gave KSC an early 25-13 lead, but RIC came back to get within one point (39-38) at halftime.

With the score knotted at 53-all at the 11:46 mark, KSC scored the next nine points to take a 62-53 lead.  A pesky Anchormen team again closed the gap to one point (72-71) with 2:06 to play, but the Owls sealed the victory by outscoring RIC 8-2 the rest of the way.  Michalski had a basket and Bennett Pawlusiak (Manchester, N.H.), Derek Swenson (Attleboro, MA.), and Chris Timson (Beverly, MA.) each connected on a pair of free throws down the stretch for the Owls.

"I thought our post defense in the second half was the key, "said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  We were letting them get to many easy baskets."

Colbert also praised the performance of his point guard tandem Michalski and Pawlusiak.  "Michalski hit some big baskets and Pawlusiak did the job on defense.  He had a couple of steals late in the game that deflated their comeback."

RIC had a better shooting percentage (.549 to .491) and a 32-21 edge on the boards, but KSC made the most of its free throw opportunities (22-8).

Swenson scored 15 points and Timson and Matt Wheeler (Shrub Oak, N.Y.) finished with 14 points each for the Owls.  Pawlusiak had a team high eight rebounds. Andre Daly and Johnafer White shared top-scoring honors for RIC with 19 point apiece.

KSC returns home to face LEC foe Eastern CT on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.).

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