'KEENE, N.H.  3/5/03  –  The third-seeded Keene State College men's basketball team needed overtime to defeat sixth seed Gordon College 89-84 in a quarterfinal ECAC Division III New England Tournament game played Wednesday in Keene.

Keene State's win, coupled with seventh seed Wheaton College's 86-83 upset of second seed Plymouth State, gives KSC a semifinal home game against Wheaton on Saturday.

Chris Timson's (Beverly, MA.) lay-up from a feed from Derek Swenson (Attleboro, MA.) put the Owls ahead for good 85-84 with 26 seconds to play.  After Timson missed the subsequent free throw, Harley Davis (Newburyport, MA.) grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Davis sank both free throws to put KSC up 87-84.

"The game was on the line we were down and he wanted the ball," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert about Timson's winning basket.  "I though he took a major step forward in being a leader."

Keene State, which led by as many as 19 points in the first half, appeared to have the game in hand.  A buzzer beating three-pointer by Alphonse Michalski (Northampton, MA.) put KSC up 45-33 at the half.

The Fighting Scots did not fold.  Gordon erased the Owls' lead with a 15-3 run to start the second half and took its first lead 52-50 at the 13:39 mark.

Trailing by six with 7:18 to play, KSC used full court pressure to get back in the game.  A free throw by Michalski with 1:55 in regulation tied the score at 74-all.  Missed shots and steals by both teams the rest of the way sent the game into overtime. 

An off-balance shot by Scott Beebe (Elgin, IL) with 44 second to go gave Gordon its last lead (84-83), before Timson's go-ahead hoop.

"Basketball is a game of waves," said Colbert. "You have to stay in there and have confidence in the game plan. I thought we did a nice job of staying with it."

Timson finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds to lead four Owls in double figures.  Michalski had 16 points, Swenson added 13 points, and Kyle Purinton (Northwood, N.H.) had 12 points off the bench.

Joe Witherspoon (Katy Tx.) had a game high 26 points and Beebe finished with 22 points for Gordon, which concludes its season at 20-7.

Keene State (21-7) advances to the ECAC semifinals for the second straight season.  They lost to Plymouth State last year.

                                           -30-