KEENE, N.H. 3/2/11 – Sixth seed Brandeis University overcame a seven point deficit over the final 2:24 of play to upset third seed Keene State College 84-77 in a quarterfinal game of the ECAC New England men's basketball tournament at Spaulding Gym on Wednesday night.

            Keene State, making their first appearance in the tournament since 2006, concludes its season with a 17-11 record.  The Judges, who improve to 17-9, move onto the semifinals where they will face seventh seed Mass. College of Liberal Arts at top seed and host Eastern Conn. State on Saturday. MCLA upset #2 seed Anna Maria College 80-76 in its opening-round game. 

            Junior Derek D'Amours (Agawam, Mass.) led the Owls with a season high 37 points.  He knocked down seven of his 12 attempts from behind the line.

            Freshman Youri Dascy (Fall River, Mass.) scored 24 points and pulled down a game-high seven rebounds and junior Vytas Kriskus (Kvedarna, Lithuania) finished with 23 points to lead Brandeis, which was making its first trip to the tournament since 1995.

            D'Amours, who had 21 first half points, put the up 31-20 at the 4:32 mark of the first half.  KSC went to the locker room with a 39-30 lead.

            With KSC up 47-36, the Judges went on a 14-0 run to take a three point lead (50-47) on a three-point basket by Kriskus at the 12 minute mark.   

            The Owls appeared to be in control after back-to-back free throws by sophomore Ryan Martin (Wayne, Me.) and D'Amours put the Owls up 77-70 with 2:24 to play.

            But Brandeis and Kriskus took over from there. Kriskus drained a three-pointer from the corner.   On the Judges' next possession, Kriskus was fouled attempting a three-pointer and made all three attempts from the line to cut the lead to 77-76.  A put-back basket by Kriskus gave Brandies a 78-77 lead with 1:12 to go.  Junior guard Tyrone Hughes, who had 13 points, buried a top of the key three-pointer and sophomore guard Anthony Trapasso and Dascy hit free throws in the closing seconds to account for the final score.

            "We didn't do a good job against Dascy inside and that really hurt us, but I stillk thought we had the game," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  "We just made some incredibly bad decisions in the last two minutes in terms of shot selection that cost us the game."  

            Martin also finished in double figures for Keene State with 12 points. 

            Brandeis shot 63% from the field (29-46) and hit seven of its 16 three-point shots (44%).  KSC was 26-61 from the field (43%) and 12-22 (54%) from three-point land. The Judges also had a 35-23 advantage on the boards.