KEENE, N.H.  2/16/10 - A double white out inside and outside Spaulding Gym couldn't help the Keene State men's basketball team which dropped a key Little East game 85-75 to rival Plymouth State University on Tuesday night. 

Playing in front of a white-out t-shirt clad crowd, Keene State falls to 13-11 and 6-7 in the LEC.  Winners of three straight, Plymouth State improves to 16-8 and 8-5 in the LEC.   A loss by UMass-Dartmouth to R.I. College (92-78) enabled the Panthers to move into a tie for third place in the LEC.   It was a tough loss for KSC, which lost a chance to move up in the standings.  The Owls will now be the sixth seed in the LEC tournament and be on the road in the opening-round.

Sophomore forward Derek D'Amours (Agawam, Mass.) finished with a game high 26 points leading the Owls.  Freshman swingman Anthony Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.)scored 18 points and freshman forward Nicco DeMasco (Swanzey, N.H.) added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Owls.

All five Panther starters finished the game in double-figures.  Senior guard Jason O'Keefe (Everett, Mass.) led the way with 25 points followed by senior forward Mike Chergey (Bow, N.H.) with 17 points, senior guard Eric Hondal (Miami, Fla.) and senior forward Bryan Tracy (Manchester, N.H.) each had 11 points, and senior center Bill Stowell chipped in with 10 points.  Tracy added a team high eight rebounds. 

The Owls used a 6-1 spurt at the end of the first half to take a 34-28 lead to the locker room.  Hitting five of his seven shots from the field, D'Amours had 13 first half points for the Owls.  Both teams struggled behind the arc.  KSC was 0-5 while PSU was 1-9.

Three straight corner three-pointers, the last from the right side by D'Amours put the Owls up 43-35 at the 16:26 mark. But the Panthers started chipping away at the KSC lead.

Chergey gave the Panthers its first lead of the second half (51-49) with a basket at the 10:30 mark. A conventional three-point play by O'Keefe extended PSU's lead to eight points (62-56) with 6:42 to play. Later in the half, a driving lay-up and a pair of free throws by Hondal (Miami, Fla.) made it a 10 point game with 2:33 to play. 

The two teams split their season series with KSC winning 80-72 in Plymouth back on Jan. 26.