WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. 3/13/2004 -The dream season of the Keene State College men's basketball team came to an end with a 79-64 loss to Williams College in the NCAA Division III Tournament sectional finals at Chandler Gym on Saturday night.

Williams (29-1), the defending national champions, extended its home winning streak to 59 games with the victory.

Keene State (26-5), which had a strong shooting game against the University of Rochester in the semifinals, could not duplicate its performance against the favored Ephs.

Despite the loss, KSC Coach Rob Colbert had nothing but praise for his team.  "I'm very, very proud of our kids," he said.  "We got beat by a better team tonight but that will pale in comparison to what this group of kids accomplished this year."

Ben Coffin, the New England Small College Athletic Conference Player of the Year, was a one-man wrecking crew fow Williams with 32 points and 21 rebounfds.  Point guard Michael Crotty scored 16 points and Chuck Abba finished with 17 points, including seven in a span of two minutes midway in the second half after Keene State had cut the Williams lead to 58-54. The Eph's 12-1 run proved to be the difference. 

"It's sad now," said senior guard Bennett Pawlusiak.  "Our goal at the beginning of the year was to make it to the tournament and get to the Final Four.  I don't know if we'll ever forget this loss. But it definitely feels good to accomplish what we did this year as a team.

"They knew what we wanted to do and they took it away," said senior forward Chris Timson, who lead the Owls with 20 points.  "I give credit to their senior leaders."

Sophomore Sean Sulivan scored 15 points and seniors Matt Wheeler and Alphonse Michalski finished with eight points each.  Michalski scored his 1,000th career point on a three-pointer with 38 seconds to play in the game.

Keene State ends a season which includeda r s season record for victories,  a first-ever Little East Tournament Championship and NCAA berth,  "We gave it our best shot, but just came up short," added Michalski.  "We have nothing to be ashamed about."