'PROVIDENCE, R.I. 12/2/06 - The Keene State College men's basketball team began Little East Conference play with a 82-78 come-from-behind road win over pre-season favorite Rhode Island College at Murray Center on Saturday.

Matt Hickey (Mahopac, N.Y.) knocked down five three-points on the way to his team-leading 17 points, and David Sontag (Mont Vernon, N.H.) hit five of six free-throws in the closing minute to lead the Owls (5-0, 1-0) to the win. 

"We were down big a couple of times and it seemed momentum was going the other way, so I'm happy for our guys that they stuck with the game plan and prevailed at the end," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert, who complimented the contribution of Hickey. "Matt kept us in the game. People worry about his size, but his heart is bigger than his height and he drilled it and kept us in it today."

"It was the first "W" here since I've been wit the team , so that was fun," said Hickey.  "We had good flow to our offense throughout the game.  Guys were getting open shots, and we took advantage of it.  It was a great win."

The Owls, who trailed by five (35-30) at halftime, fell behind by as many as 13 points (58-45) at the 11:03 of the second half, before crawling back into the game.

Seeing his first action since injuring his ankle in the Owls' opener against Eastern Nazarene, Nate Anderson (Westminster, Mass.) hit consecutive lay-ups as KSC fought back to take a 62-60 lead with 7:08 to play. Anderson connected on six of his seven shots from the field.

A barn-burner, the game was decided in the final minutes of play.  After Bobby Bailey's lay-up put RIC up (74-72), the Owls took back the lead (75-74) on a three-pointer by Shiwon Davis (Bridgeport, Conn.) with 1:18 to go.

After a turnover by Tirrell Hill, Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, Vt.) sank a pair of free throws to give KSC a 77-74 lead with 1:08 to play.  Kinsey Durgin hit two shots from the line to make it a one point game (77-76), but Sontag, who was nine of 12 from the line, put the game away by connecting on five of six free throws to give KSC the win.

"Anytime you escape with a win like this on the road, you can't be anything but happy," said Sontag."  We kept on making big plays and getting big stops."

Sontag and Anderson finished with 14 points each for the Owls, who were pecked third in the LEC pre-season poll.   Travon Little (Danbury, Conn.) had nine points. Kathan finished with eight points, and Kevin Ritter (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) came off the bench to score six points and pull down eight rebounds. 

Durgin had a game-high 27 points for the Anchormen (3-1, 01 LEC).

Keene State continues its four game road swing with a non-conference game at Tufts on Wednesday night (7 p.m.).