KEENE, N.H. 12/4/07 - The Keene State College men's basketball
team suffered its first loss of the season, a 81-67 non-conference
set back to Tufts University Tuesday night at Spaulding Gym.
Keene State, ranked 16th in the week's D3Hoops Poll, falls to
5-1. Tufts improves to 3-2.
Junior forward Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, Vt.) led the Owls with 20
points and six rebounds. Senior forward Travon Little
(Danbury, Conn.) scored 19 points and senior forward Nick Drouin
(Weare, N.H.) finished with 13 points and six rebounds.
Junior forward Jon Pierce (Belmont, Mass.) had a fine overall game
for Tufts, finishing with a game high 25 points, 11 rebounds, and
six blocks. Senior guard Jeremy Back had 21 points.
The Jumbos built up an early lead. Tufts went up by seven
(22-15) on a three-pointer by junior guard Aaron Gallant (Bangor,
Me.) at the 12:30 mark Pierce then went to work. He hit
a couple of three-pointers and then went inside for a lay-up to
give Tufts its largest lead (39-25) with 4:47 to play in the half.
The Jumbos, who led 42-29 at the half, hit eight of 15 shots from
behind the arc while KSC connected on just one of eight attempts.
Pierce had 12 first half points for Tufts. Drouin (Weare,
N.H.) scored 11 of his 13 points in the first
half.
Turning up the defensive pressure in the second half, the Owls went
on a 7-0 run, to cut the lead to 47-42 on a pair of free throws by
Kevin Ritter (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) early in the half.
An inside basket by Drouin got the Owls to within two (53-51) with
11:42 to play.
Tufts answered with a 12-4 run going up 65-45 on a turnaround shot
in the lane by Pierce. Tufts withstood another late
rally by the Owls in the final minutes to secure the victory.
Tufts hit 11 of 21 three-pointers (52%) in the game and had a 44-30
advantage on the boards.
Tufts leads the series 6-4. Last season, the Jumbos defeated
the Owls 118-109 in a triple overtime game at Cousens Gym.
Keene State returns to Little East play on Saturday when it hosts
Rhode Island College at 1 p.m.
