NORTH DARTMOUTH, MASS. 1/15/2004 - Chris Timson (Beverly, Mass.) had 16 points and seven rebounds to lead the Keene State College men's basketball team to a well-earned 69-64 come-from behind Little East Conference victory on the road at UMass-Dartmouth on Thursday.
It was the fifth straight win for Keene State (11-2, 4-0 LEC), which remain undefeated in LEC play. UMass-Dartmouth drops to 6-6 and 0-4 in the Conference. The game was originally scheduled for Dec. 6, but was cancelled due to a snowstorm.
Falling behind by as many as 11 points mid-way in the second half, Keene State rallied in the closing minutes for the victory.
Coming off the bench, freshman Brian Sheppard (East Bridgewater, Mass.) hit consecutive three-pointers, and Matt Wheeler (Shurb Oak, N.Y.) made a lay-up to cut the deficit to five points (58-53) with 9:40 to go in the game.
The Owls eventually tied the score (64-all) on a pair of free throws by Alphonse Michalski (Northampton, Mass.) with 2:30 to play. Wheeler gave KSC its first lead (66-64) since the opening minutes with a pair of free throws at the 1:46 mark.
After being fouled by Bennett Pawlusiak (Manchester, N.H.), Devon Maiorano missed the front end of the one-and one. Wheeler pulled down the rebound. After a KSC time-out, Pawlusiak hit an eight-footer in the lane to put KSC up 68-64 with 36 seconds to play. Timson hit a free throw to account for the final score.
"I think we were tired and fatigued and that showed in our play," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert. "But we were fortunate. We went to some of the younger guys, and Sheppard came up big for us."
"I'm really happy for the team," he added. "It was a tough win, and they found a way to pull it out."
Wheeler had 11 points and Michalski finished with 10 points to round out the double-figure scorers for KSC.
Chris Lapriore had a game-high 19 points and Joseph Britto finished with 14 points to lead the Corsairs.
Keene State had lost its last five games at the Tripp Center against UMass-Dartmouth. Its last win (90-64) came back in Dec. 12, 1998.
Keene State will be at Rhode Island College on Saturday (3 p.m.).
