'KEENE, N.H. 02/18/06 - The Keene State College men's basketball clinched the 2006 Little East Conference regular season championship on Saturday.  The Owls, who entered the day tied with UMass-Boston for the top spot in the LEC, got a little help from Rhode Island College on the way to claiming the title.

Although the Owls defeated Southern Maine 68-66, it was Rhode Island College's 79-72 win over UMass-Boston that put KSC on top. It's the fourth regular-season LEC title for the Owls, who also claimed the championship in 1999 (tie), 2002, and 2004.

Senior Sean Sullivan, who finished with a season-high 28 points against USM, delivered the good news to his teammates.  "I have a friend who goes to Rhode Island College and she called me with the score," said the Owl senior.  "When I told everyone, the locker room erupted. Everyone was celebrating."

"We were outside the locker room, so the players found out before us," said KSC Coach Colbert.  "It's great. "This is what you play the entire season for.  But we have a very difficult quarterfinal game on Tuesday.  Southern Maine is a very pesky team.  And it's difficult playing the same team in a short period of time."

The top seed in the LEC tournament Keene State (18-6, 11-3 LEC) will host the eighth seeded Huskies (10-15, 3-11 LEC) on Tuesday at 7:30.  The Keene State women (15-10, 9-5), who lost on Saturday to Southern Maine 88-29, will be the fourth seed in the LEC Tournament.  They will face fifth seed Plymouth State (10-14, 5-9 LEC) on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m

If the KSC men win on Tuesday they will host both semifinal and final rounds of the tournament on Friday and Saturday.  A victory by the Owls women will send them up to Southern Maine for the final rounds.

Colbert and the Owl players know it's a big advantage to bring the tournament to Spaulding Gym.  "We just seem to play better in front of our fans," said Colbert.  "The energy level and the enthusiasm raise the level of our play."

"We have the best fans in the conference and we feed off the crowds' energy," said Owl captain Ben Maynard.  "Most of the guys don't like to travel because it takes so much out of you.  So we're really excited about staying home."

<center><b>KSC Edges Huskies, 68-66, to capture Regular Season Title</b></center>

GORHAM, Maine - Sophomore guard Kevin Ritter (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) connected on the eventual game-winner, a driving lay-up on the left side, with 1:25 remaining in the game to snap a 66-66 tie and give the Keene State College Owls a 68-66 Little East Conference win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies Saturday at Warren G. Hill Gymnasium on the Gorham campus.

With the win Keene State improves to 18-6 overall and 11-3 in the Little East while the Huskies drop to 10-15 overall and 3-11 in the LEC with the loss. The win combined with a UMass Boston loss gives Keene State the top-seed in the Little East Conference tournament. The Huskies will enter the LEC tournament as the eight-seed and will travel to Keene State on Tuesday (February 21) for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

Ritter finished the game with 15 points, while senior forward Sean Sullivan (Athol, Mass./Athol) was a force inside for the Owls scoring a game-high 28 points on 11-for-16 shooting mark from the floor and a 6-for-6 effort from the free throw line. Freshman forward Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, Vermont/Springfield) added 14 points for Keen State and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Senior forward Bill Hardwick (Boothbay, Maine/Boothbay Region) scored 20 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to lead Southern Maine. Sophomore guards Walter Phillips (Portland, Maine/Bridgton Academy) and Andy Frost (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) added 14 and 11 points respectively for the Huskies. Frost also passed off a team-high four assist.

After rallying from a 10-point first half deficit to take a slim 34-32 lead at the break the Huskies found themselves in a back-and-forth battle with Keene State in the second half as both teams answered each other's baskets to force 13 second half ties and seven lead changes.

After a steal and an assist from Frost to freshman guard Charlie O'Neill (Seymour, Conn./Wibraham & Monson) for a lay-up, the Huskies pulled into the 11th tie of the half, 61-61 with 4:36 remaining. In its next possession, Keene State pulled ahead 63-61 on a jumper from Sullivan, before the Huskies battled on the boards to come up with two offensive rebounds to lead to a driving jumper in the paint from Phillips to knot the score up again 63-63 with 3:28 on the clock.

Southern Maine went ahead by one 64-63 on one of two free throws from Frost with 2:42 showing, but sophomore guard Matt Hickey (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) gave Keene State the lead right back, 66-64 with a three-pointer on the Owl's next possession. The half saw its 13th tied score of the game when USM's Phillips scored his 10th point of the half to pull the Huskies even with the Owls 66-66 with 1:57 to play, before Ritter gave the Owls the lead for good, 68-66, with 1:25 to play as USM misfired on its last three shots of the game, including two threes as the clock expired.

(Courtesy of USM sports information)