'KEENE, N.H. 12/9/06 - Nate Anderson (Westminster, Mass.) and Anthony Licitra (Glastonbury, Conn.) finished with 19 points each to lead Keene State College to a 89-81 victory over UMass-Dartmouth in a Little East Conference men's basketball game played at Spaulding Gym on Saturday.

The Owls (6-1, 2-0 LEC) used a late surge down the stretch to pull out the victory.  A basket by Anderson off the glass gave KSC an 85-79 lead with 1:30 to play. The  Corsairs cut the lead to four points (85-81) on a three-pointer by Devon Maiorano (Rehoboth, Mass.) with 56 seconds to go.

On the Owls' next possession, Licitra missed a base-line jumper, but got his own rebound.  David Sontag (Mont Vernon, N.H.) was later fouled and hit a pair of free throws to put KSC up 87-81.

"I just tried to help the team out.  It was a whole team effort and we were fortunate to come out with a win," said Licitra.

"UMass-Dartmouth is a tough, physical team," said Anderson, who pulled down a team high nine rebounds.  "But we knew what we had to do.  We had to play just as tough as them and play our game."

Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, Vt.) had 13 points and seven rebounds and Sontag finished with 13 points and four assists for the Owls, who hit 21 of their 24 free throws.

Stephane Abelard (Brockton, Mass.) 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead UMD (4-3, 1-1 LEC).  Maiorano added 14 points and Paul Pawlowski finished with 13 points.

Keene State is off until Fri, Dec. 29 when it plays in the Surf City Classic in Huntington Beach, Ca.