KEENE, N.H. 2/22/05 - The fifth seed UMass-Dartmouth upset fourth seed Keene State College 89-82 in an opening round game of the Little East Conference men's basketball tournament Tuesday night in Keene.

The defending LEC champion Owls fall to 15-10 while UMass-Dartmouth (13-13) picked up its fourth win in a row. UMD moves on to play the winner of the #1 Western Conn.-#8 Eastern Conn game. It is the first time KSC has lost a first round game since the 1999-2000 season.

Joe Britto (New Bedford, Mass.) led UMD with 28 points and Chris Lapriore (Grafton, Mass.) finished with 16 points. Matt Hickey (Mahopec, N.Y.) led KSC with 17 points while Sean Sullivan added 13 points. Ben Maynard (Nobleboro, Me.) had a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Owls took a 41-38 lead in a high-energy first half of play. UMD took its biggest lead of the half (20-13) on a drive by Britto at the 11:08 mark. KSC took its first lead of the game with 35 second to play on a basket by David Sontag (Mont Vernon, N.H.). With time running down, Sontag found Erik Schlacter (Marlboro, Mass.) down low to give the Owls a slim lead at the break.

Britto had 16 first half points for UMD while Matt Hickey (Mahopac, N.Y.) topped the Owls with 11 points, including three treys.

The Corsairs never let the Owls back into the game in the second half. A put back and free throw by Britto put UMD up 71-62 with 7:30 to play. Britto later hit a three-pointer at the top of the key making it 80-69 at the 3:24 mark.

The Owls made it interesting. Hickey and Joe Shaw (Concord, N.H.) hit consecutive threes to cut the deficit to five points (82-77) with 12:23 remaining. Sullivan then connected inside to make it a three point game (82-79). Britto's slam put UMD up 84-79 with 32 seconds to play.

Shaw hit a free throw to make it 84-82, but Josh Adamec (Norwich, Conn.) sealed the win with a pair of free throws.

KSC had won the two regular seasons games over the Corsairs.