KEENE, N.H. 2/513 – Senior Eric Fazio (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) tied his season high with 20 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead Keene State College over rival Plymouth State University 68-62 in Little East Conference men's basketball action at Spaulding Gym on Tuesday night.

Keene State, which has won of four of its last five games, improves to 14-8 overall and 8-3 in the LEC. The win, coupled with UMass-Boston's 69-55 victory over Southern Maine, moves the Owls into third place in the LEC standings.

KSC got contributions from several players. Senior Ryan Martin (Wayne, Maine) scored 15 points and dished out five assists, sophomore Tom Doyle (Wallingford, Conn.) added 11 points and eight rebound and junior Montel Walcott (New Haven, Conn.) posted his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 boards.

Senior Rashad Wright (Agawam, Mass.), the Owls' second leading scorer and top rebounder, sat out his second straight game with an injury. "We can't use Rashad's absence as an excuse.  We have to come out and play hard every game," said Wolcott, who played 22 productive minutes despite being in foul trouble.

Junior Petey Skevas (Wethersfield, Conn.) paced the Panthers (6-16, 2-9 LEC) with 18 points while freshman Uche Nwokeji (Lynn, Mass.) had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Fazio, who netted 11 first half points, had the hot-hand early, scoring 11 of the Owls first 19 points.  "Coach (Colbert) told me and Montel to step up.  We knew we needed to play a bigger role," said Fazio. "As far as the points were concern, the guards did a nice job finding me."

"I got 14 feet of players sitting on the bench between Nate Howard and Rashad,' said KSC Coach Rob Colbert. "But we gutted it out.  It wasn't our 'A' game, but we still found a way to win which is something that I'm proud about."  

Senior Anthony Mariano (Naugatuck, Conn.) gave KSC its biggest lead of the half (28-21) with a short jumper in the lane at the 7:49 mark.

The Panthers went on a 10-2 run, taking a 31-30 lead on a drive by Skevas with 2:31 to go in the half. A pull-up jumper by Martin gave KSC back the lead 34-33 with 50 seconds to go. 

Holding the ball for the last shot, Skevas, who had 10 first half points for PSU, hit an off-balance, fall-away shot at the buzzer to give the Panthers a slim 35-34 halftime lead.

A barn-burner, fewer than four points separated the two teams until the closing minutes.  After freshman Tre' Tipton (Stamford, Conn.) went to the floor to retain possession for the Owls, Walcott took advantage of the opportunity, going strong to the hoop to give KSC a 53-50 lead at the 7:37 mark

After grabbing two offensive rebounds, a persistent Doyle finally got the put-back hoop to make it 62-56 with 1:14 to play. "Coach always says go to the board, so that's what I did and it paid off," said Doyle.

Following a PSU turnover, Martin was fouled on the inbounds play and hit both free throws to make it 64-56 with 50 seconds left on the clock.

The pesky Panthers cut the lead to five points on a three-pointer by senior Matt Cloutier (Milton, N.H.) with 35 seconds to go.

Looking to break the Panthers' press on the next inbounds play, Fazio threw a long pass down court to Doyle, who was fouled.  He hit both his shots to make 66-59 as KSC held on for the win. "Coach set up the play for me to go long and I knew they wouldn't be back," said Doyle, who caught the long pass and dribbled around for a few seconds before being fouled.

Sophomore Alex Burt (Dover, N.H.) scored 14 points and senior Kevin Eisenberg (Moultonborough, N.H.) finished with 10 points for the Panthers.

Keene State won the battle of the boards 41-34 and also had a productive night at the line (22-27, 82%).  Both teams struggled behind the arc; KSC went 4-12 (33%) while PSU was 3-17 (18%).

Both teams have LEC games on Saturday.  Keene State hosts Western Conn. While the Panthers travel to UMass-Boston.  Both games begin at 3 p.m.