KEENE, N.H.  2/21/09 - The Keene State College men's basketball teams secured the fourth seed in the upcoming Little East tournament with an 82-58 victory over UMass-Boston on senior day at Spaulding Gym.

The Owls (11-13, 7-7 LEC) who snapped a five game losing streak, will host fifth seed Eastern Connecticut in a first-round game on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m.) ECSU and Western Conn. had identical 6-8 conference records. The Warriors get the fifth seed based on their better conference record on the road.

The Owls raced out to a 15-4 lead on a baseline drive by freshman forward Derek D'Amours (Agawam, Mass.).  Keene State took its biggest lead of the half (36-16) after a pair of free throws by freshman forward Cody Snow (Leyden, Mass.).

D'Amours, who drained three of his six three-point shots, had 13 first half points as the Owls opened up a 39-24 halftime lead.

Sophomore forward Pat Joseph (Queens, N.Y.) scored 12 first half points for the Beacons.

KSC blocked eight UMB shots in the half, one shy of the school record.

A lay-up by senior forward Nate Anderson put the Owls up by 21 points (45-24) early in the second half. Five straight points by senior forward Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, Vt.)extended the Owls lead to 25 points (54-29) at the 12:48 mark.

Prior to the game, the Owls honored seniors Anderson and Kathan, who were playing in their final home regular season game.

Kathan finished with a game high 23 points and 15 rebounds to notch his ninth double-double game of the season and 26th of his career.  Anderson chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds.

"It was nice to put two halves together. We haven't done that in awhile," said Anderson. "Getting the first-round home tournament game is huge.  Going on the road is tough in this league." 

Snow had 12 point and D'Amour's added 15 points to round out the double figure scorers for KSC.  D'Amours also had six rebounds and six assists.

Keene State hit 11 of its 13 shots from the line (85%) and had a wide 45-29 advantage on the boards.

Senior guard A.J. Titus (Roxbury, Mass.) scored 21 points and Joseph finished with 18 points and nine rebounds for UMass-Boston (4-21, 2-12 LEC), who will be the seventh seed in the LEC tournament and travel to second seed UMass-Dartmouth for a first-round game against the Corsairs.