'KEENE, N.H. 03/2/06 - Keene State College's Matt Hickey picked
a good time to hit his only basket of the game in the Owls' ECAC
tournament quarterfinal game against Colby-Sawyer College on
Wednesday night.
The sophomore guard from Mahopac, N.Y., drained a baseline
three-pointer with just 3.2 seconds to play to lift top seed Keene
State (21-7)to a dramatic 80-77 victory over eighth seed
Colby-Sawyer and catapult the Owls into the semifinals against
fourth seed Rhode Island College. The semifinal game will
take place Friday night at Spaulding Gym (7 p.m.).
RIC (18-9)advanced with a thrilling 70-68 quarterfinal win in
overtime against fifth seed Coast Guard. Brian Stanko led the
Anchormen with a career-high 29 points.
In the other quarterfinal games, second seed MIT defeated
seventh seed Plymouth State 60-55, and sixth seed Wheaton College
upset third seed Emmanuel College 82-65. MIT will host
Wheaton in the other semifinal game on Friday. If KSC
prevails, the championship game will be played Saturday at 4
p.m. Regardless of the semifinal results, it will be the
Little East Conference vs. the New England Women's and Men's
Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) for the championship.
This will be round 3 between KSC and RIC this season. The
two LEC rivals split their two regular season meetings with each
team posting a home victory. The Owls defeated RIC 99-86 in
Keene on Dec. 3 while the Anchormen came back to edge KSC 75-67 in
Providence on Jan. 21.
"We know each other extremely well," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.
"Each team has a particular strength. We have a little bit
more size, but they have the advantage when it comes to
quickness. It will be interesting to see which team can
best utilize its strength."
Anthony Licitra provided the Owls with a much-needed boost
against Colby-Sawyer. Filling in for an ill Kevin Ritter, the
sophomore guard finished with a career-high 20 points.
"Anthony did an incredible job for us," Colbert said. "He
didn't find out until an hour before the game that he was going to
start."
Keene State is no stranger to the ECAC tournament. The Owls are
making their seventh trip to the regional tournament in the past
nine years. KSC has reached the finals on two occasions: losing to
Colby-Sawyer (102-95) in 1998 and falling to Babson College (81-71)
in 2003.
Rhode Island College is making its ninth appearance in the
tournament. The Anchormen, who lost in last year's final to
Wheaton (77-68), won the title in 1983.
The Keene State women's basketball team saw its ECAC
Championship hopes dashed with a 73-64 quarterfinal loss to
Emmanuel College on Wednesday. The Owls had three players
score in double figures. Senior forward Stacey Morse pumped
in 16 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. Junior forward Sarah
Begnoche notched a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards,
while senior guard Bekka Hopkins netted 12 points, including 3
first-half three-pointers.
KSC concludes its season with a 16-11 record.