'BOSTON, MA - In a rematch of last year's Little East Conference championship game won by the Beacons, the Keene State College men's basketball team converted 24 of 32 free throws en-route to a 67-61 victory over host University of Massachusetts Boston in a Little East Conference contest today at the Clark Athletic Center on the UMass Boston campus.  The Beacons fall to 4-7 overall and 0-3 in LEC play, while the Owls improve to 10-1, with their fifth straight victory, and a perfect 3-0 in conference action.

"One of our goals was to get to the foul line," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert. "That was a big stat for us.  It was a very physical game.

"It's the most physical game I've been in all year," said Nick Drouin (Weare, N.H.) who finished with 14 points and six rebounds. "It came down to winning the one-on-one battles."

UMass-Boston led by seven points twice in the first half, before the Owls came back to take the lead.  A pair of free throws by Anthony Licitra (Glastonbury, Con.) gave KSC its first lead (35-33) since the opening minute of play. Drouin hit a lay-up in the final second of play to give the Owls a 39-35 lead at the break. 

Keene State, which held the lead throughout the second half, had to work hard for the win.  The Owls ran off nine straight points to take a nine point lead (48-39) on a lay-up by Travon Little (Danbury, Conn.) with 14:43 to play. Always tough at home, the Beacons later used an 8-2 spurt to knot the game at 56-56 with 6:02 to go.

Keene State responded with a 10-3 stretch that gave it a comfortable 66-59 advantage. With the shot clock winding down, David Sontag (Mont Vernon, N.H.)  took matters into his own hands.  The Owls junior captain had a key conventional three-point play, hitting a lay-up and then burying a three throw to put KSC up by six points with 43 ticks on the clock. "It's a designed play bat the end of the shot clock," Sontag said.  "I came off the high screen. No one helped out, so I just had an open lane to the basket.  That put the game out of reach."

Keene State, which lost to UMB 81-67 in last year's LEC championship came into the game with revenge on its mind.  A picture of the Beacons celebrating the victory hangs at the entrance of the Clark Center Gym.  "We all took a look at it right before we went in," said Nate Anderson (Westminster, Mass.), who had 13 points and a game high 11 rebounds.  "It gave us a little boost."

"It's a good feeling to knowing we can not only beat them, but beat them down here," Colbert said.  "We have a game plan that will work. Because it's a difficult match-up for us."  

Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, Vt.) led four KSC players with double figures with 15 points to go with six rebounds, two steals, an assist and a blocked shot and Sontag dropped in 10 points, while pulling down three rebounds, passing for four assists and coming up with a steal.

KSC did a good job on two of the LEC's top scorers.  UMass Boston, which finished the game with 10 blocked shots, was led by senior swingman Tony Barros with 18 points to give him 1,517 career points to move into second on the school's all-time scoring list,. Amigo  Paniagua contributed with 13 points, five rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist and sophomore center Rodney Bennett chipped in with nine points, five rebounds, four assists and four rejections.

Both teams continue LEC plac on Tuesday.  The Owls host LEC foe Western Connecticut State University at 7:30 p.m. in a match-up of the league's last two undefeated teams in conference play. The Beacons will be in action when they host Plymouth State University.