KEENE, N.H. 2/19/13 – The men's basketball rivalry between Keene State College and Plymouth State University was rekindled at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night with the third ranked Owls holding on for a wild 74-68 victory over the sixth ranked Panthers  in a quarterfinal game of the Little East Conference tournament.

Keene State (16-10), which snapped a two game losing streak with the win, moves on to the semifinals where they will face second seed Eastern Conn. State in the second of the two semifinals games at Rhode Island College on Friday night  at 8 p.m. ESCU advanced with a 65-54 win over seventh seed Western Conn. State.  KSC lost to Eastern Conn. 81-76 (2-OT) in the semifinal round of the tournament last year.

The loss drops Plymouth State to 7-19.

In the other quarterfinal games, top seed Rhode Island College edged eighth seed UMass-Dartmouth 62-58 and fourth seed Southern Maine got by UMass-Boston 85-65.  RIC will take on USM in the first semifinal game on Friday night at 6 p.m. Rhode Island College will host both the semifinals and finals of the LEC tournament.

The game between  KSC and PSU was decided in the final minutes of play.   KSC took a 69-66 lead with 1:49 to go on a reverse lay-up by freshman Tre'Tipton (Stamford, Conn.).  A 35 second shot violation by PSU gave the ball back to the Owls. However, KSC returned the favor on the inbounds play, giving the ball right back to the Panthers.  Turnaround is fair play. KSC freshman Nate Howard (Cheshire, Conn.) stole the ball, and after being fouled, connected on one of two free throws to make it 70-66 with 1:11 remaining.  Howard, who saw limited playing time during the season, played a key role in the win.  "I know if I play hard I'll get more minutes," said Howard, who had six key free throws in the game.  It was a fun game to play in."

Junior Petey Skevas (Wethersfield, Conn.) hit a couple of shots from the line to cut the lead to 70-68 with 54 seconds on the clock.

In the Owls' next possession, senior Rashad Wright (Agawam, Mass.) missed a jump hook, but freshman Jesse LaCroix (Orange, Mass.) grabbed the offensive rebound and banged it off a PSU player, enabling KSC to keep possession.

A KSC turnover gave Plymouth back the ball. Skevas missed a lay-up.  Sophomore Tom Doyle (Wallingford, Conn.) and Skevas both came down with the ball.  The possession arrow was pointing the Owls way, giving them back the ball. Fouled on the inbounds play, Doyle hit both his shots from the line, giving KSC a 72-68 lead with 13.7 seconds to go.

Skevas had a chance to get PSU within two, but with the partisan Spaulding Gym crowd screaming from the stands, he missed both of his free throw attempts. Tipton pulled down the rebound. He was fouled and hit both his shots from the line to account for the final score.  

"It was a great college basketball game.  We talk all the time how playoff basketball is different.  This place was electric. Both teams I thought played really hard," said KSC Coach Rob Colbert.  "We kept getting down and kept coming back.  It wasn't a Monet by any chance, but I'll definitely take it."

"It was a little closer than we wanted it to be. We knew if we didn't come out and play well, they're a team that's capable of beating us," said senior Ryan Martin (Wayne, Maine) who led the Owls with 17 points.   We got a win and hopefully we can keep it going Friday night."

The game was a barn burner form the start.  Senior Kevin Eisenberg (Moultonborough, N.H.) scored nine of the Panthers first 11 points, including three baskets from behind the arc, helping Plymouth State jump out to an early 11-6 lead.

Keene State opened up a 28-21 lead with 5:10 to go in the half. Following a block by junior Montel Walcott (New Haven, Conn.), Martin picked up the loose ball. Fouled after hitting a lay-up, he hit the free throw to give KSC the seven point lead (28-21).

After Eisenberg made a conventional three-point play on a lay-up and free throw to cut the lead to 28-26, KSC went on an 11-3 run. Junior Jim Hepple (Newington, Conn.) capped off the uprising with a three-pointer from the right of the circle, putting the Owls up 39-29 with 33 seconds to go.

Holding the ball for the final shot, Skevas hit a jumper in the closing seconds to make it a 39-31 game at the break.

The Panthers scored the first seven points of the second half, cutting the lead to a point (39-38) on an old-fashion three-point play by Skevas.

Plymouth wasn't done.  A pair of three-pointers by sophomore Alex Burt (Dover, N.H.) sandwiched around a put-back by freshman Uche Nwokeji (Lynn, Mass.) gave PSC back the lead 51-47 at the 14:20 mark.

Fouled after hitting a three-pointer, Martin completed the four-point play to put Keene State back on top 53-51.

  It was a nip-and tuck game the rest of way as both teams took turns holding the lead. After a steal, Tipton drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to put KSC up 65-62 at the 3:51 mark.

That set the stage for the wild finish between the two teams.

Senior Anthony Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.)  also scored in double figures for KSC with 10 points while   Walcott pulled won a game high 10 rebounds to go with nine points.

Burt led the Panthers with 17 points. Skevas scored 16 points and Nwokeji and Eisenberg each finished with 15 points.  Nowkejo and Skevas each had 15 points.

Keene State was the battle of the broads 44-32.  The Owls were 23-37 at the line compared to PSU which went 9-16.  

Keene State has won five of the six times the two rivals have met in the LEC tournament. In addition the victory in the 2004 finals, the Owls defeated the Panthers in the semifinals in 1998 (110-93), 2002 (67-62) and in the 2007 quarterfinals (98-86). Plymouth's lone win came in the second round (82-76) of the 2003 tournament.