KEENE, N.H. 1/17/12 –  The Keene State men's basketball team outscored rival Plymouth State University 34-21 in the second half en route to a 71-61 Little East Conference victory at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night.

Junior Rashad Wright (Agawam, Mass.) had 14 points and a career high 16 rebounds to ignite the Owls second half surge. "In the second half we buckled down defensively and that's how we got the win," he said. 

Winners of two straight, Keene State (11-4, 5-1 LEC) remains second in the LEC standings.  Plymouth State falls to 5-9 and 1-5 in conference play.

Plymouth State ran off eight straight points to take a 36-29 lead on a run that included a long-range three-pointer from the top of key by junior Matt Cloutier (Milton, N.H.).   With the Panthers up by eight 40-32 after a baseline jumper  by Cloutier, KSC scored the last two buckets of the half, including a buzzer beating three-pointer by junior Ryan Martin (Wayne, Maine) that made it a 40-37 game at halftime. 

Cloutier, who hit all of his four of his attempts, had 11 first half points for PSU, which hit half of its shots 13-26 (50%) from the field. KSC was off the mark behind the arc, connecting on just four of its 16 shots (25%). 

Out of the break, KSC got the lead back (46-42) on a mini-run that featured a couple of crowd-pleasing dunks by junior Rashad Wright (Agawam, Mass.).  "The two dunks got the fans going,' said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  "I thought those two plays emotionally changed the make-up of the game." 

Keene State used it defense to pull away from the Panthers midway in the half.  A steal by junior Anthony Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.) led to a lay-up by junior Nicco DeMasco (Richmond, N.H.).  A minute later, DeMasco's block resulted in a three-pointer by Martin that gave KSC a 58-52 lead at the 9:50 mark.   

"At halftime Coach (Colbert) made a huge emphasis about turning up the defense and that's what won us the game in the second half," said DeMasco, who finished the game with six points, three rebounds, three assists and a block.

"We really struggled to stop them in the first half," said Colbert.  "We made some adjustments at halftime and that helped get us going in the second half." 

The pesky Panthers made one last run at the Owls. Sophomore Mark MacGregor (Rochester, N.H.) made it a five point game (65-60) after hitting a couple from the line with 3:14 to play. Martin was fouled taking a three-pointer and hit all his attempts from the stripe to push the Owls' lead back up to eight points (68-60) with 3:02 to go. 

After senior Ollie Hunter (Bedford, N.H.) made one of two free throws, KSC got the ball back in the rebound action and DeMasco found Wright underneath for a finger roll that extended the lead to 71-60 with just over a minute to play. 

Despite a tough shooting night, Martin scored 12 points and dished out four assists while junior Eric Fazio (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) and freshman Tom Doyle Wallingford, Conn.) each finished with 11 points. Doyle also had eight rebounds.

MacGregor, who was 7-8 from the line, led the Panthers with 17 points and nine rebounds.  Cloutier finished with 11 points. 

Keene State outrebounded the Panthers by a wide 55-27 margin. 

The Owls have won the last four meeting against their rivals.

Both teams return to LEC play on Saturday. The Owls travel to UMass-Dartmouth and the Panthers visit Rhode Island College.