WILLIMANTIC, CONN. 2/17/09 - The Keene State men's basketball team never recovered from a tough first half in a 73-53 Little East Conference loss to Eastern Conn. on Tuesday night.

The Warriors limited the Owls, the third-most prolific offensive team in the Little East Conference, to 19 first-half points and snapped a four-game losing streak at the hands of Keene State College with the victory at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

A winner of four of its last five, Eastern (12-12, 6-7 little east) moves into a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference with Keene (10-13, 6-7 little east) and Western Connecticut State University (13-10, 6-7 little east). The top four seeds in the upcoming conference tournament host first-round tournament games.

After giving up 73 points and losing by ten points at Keene three weeks ago, Eastern held the Owls to 19 first-half points Tuesday on the way to a 17-point, 36-19 halftime lead.  Keene shot just 28.6 ercent from the floor over the first 20 minutes, missing six of seven three-pointers. The winning margin is Eastern's largest in the 28-game series.

The Warriors led by  21 five minutes into the second half before Keene battled back to within ten, 49-39, with 12 minutes left. At that point, the Warriors used a 10-3 spurt to re-gain a 17-point advantage, 59-42, with nine minutes left. Senior Edwin Ortiz (Hartford) scored eight of Eastern's points in that run. He hit a driving layup, then sank both of his three-pointers. The Warriors shot 61.l5 percent from the floor in the second half.

The worst free-throw shooting team in the LEC, Eastern won the battle at the stripe. The Warriors converted 18 of 24 (16-of-18 in the first half) while Keene, the conference's free-throw leader, was 14-for-19.

All-conference seniors Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, VT) and Nate Anderson (Westminster, MA) were Keeene's double-digit scorers. Kathan had 13 points, but only two on 1-for-5 shooting in the first half. Anderson scored 11 of his team's 19 points in the first half. Starting point guard Tavonne Reid (Bridgeport, CT) picked up his third and fourth fouls in the opening two minutes of the second half and had only two points in eight second-half minutes before fouling out with four minutes left and his team trailing by 15.  Kathan scored 11 points in the second half despite playing most of the half with four personal fouls.

Ortiz led all players with 14 points, sophomore Courtney Simmons (Middletown) adding 13, sophomore Broderick Sawyer (Norwalk) 12 points and a team-high six rebounds and James 11. In the second half, Sawyer hit all four of his field goals while James was 4-for-5.

Keene State, which has dropped its last five game, will look to conclude its regular season on a postive Saturday when it hosts UMass-Boston.