'KEENE, N.H.  2/17/07 - Nick Drouin (Weare, N.H.) had 16 points to lead four Owls in double-figures in Keene State's 79-65 Little East Conference men's basketball victory over the University of Southern Maine at Spaulding Gym on Saturday.

Keene State (21-4, 11-3 LEC) will be the second seed in the upcoming LEC Tournament and host seventh seed Plymouth State in a first-round game on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.)  Rhode Island College earned the top seed with its 90-72 win over UMass-Boston. Southern Maine (6-18, 2-12 LEC) will be the eighth seed in the LEC tournament and face RIC.

Ahead 39-29 at the half, the Owl pushed their lead up to 17 points (48-31) on a free throw by Nate Anderson (Westminster, Mass.) midway in the second half.

The Huskies cut the lead to six points (63-57) on a hook by Nick Gooding (Concord, Ca.) with 4:22 to play.

A put-back by Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, Vt.) and a  conventional three-point play by Anderson  made it a 10 point game (67-57) with 2:34 to go.

Anderson had 15 points and 10 rebounds, David Sontag (Mont Vernon, N.H.) chipped in with 12 points and Matt Hickey (Mahopac, N.Y.) finished with 11 points for the Owls.

Drew Coppenrath (Barnet, Vt,) had a game high 23 points and Josh Daniels (Everett, WA) finished with 17 points for USM.