CHICOPEE, Mass.--Paul Emdin's late putback lifted the Keene State College men's basketball team to a 70-68 win over Elms College in non-conference action on Tuesday night at Picknelly Arena.The Owls improve to 3-0 this season.  The Blazers fall to 1-2.

Tom Doyle led all scorers with 26 points, connecting on nine of 10 foul shots.  Nate Howard also added 11 points, with six rebounds and four blocked shots, while Matt Ozzella was just rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards.

Jerry Buchanon led the Blazers with 16 points.  

The Owls were down 63-61 with 3:28 remaining but Ozzella was involved in the next three plays to get the Owls in front.  Ozzella fed Howard for a dunk, then grabbed the rebound on Kenny Lockett's miss on the Blazers' next possession.  At the other end, Doyle drained the last of his three three pointers on the night for a 66-63 KSC lead.

Elms tied the game back up at 66 on two free throws from Lockett and another from Tim Putnam, but Howard scored down low with 25 seconds to play.   The game looked to be headed to overtime when Buchanon knocked down a pair of foul shots with 16 ticks left on the clock, but Emdin saved KSC with the late bucket.

Nate Stitchell's jumper with two seconds remaining fell to Ozzella, who went up for a layup, and the miss fell to Emdin, who tapped it back in for the go-ahead bucket.  Tim Putnam missed a three at the buzzer for Elms.

"It was tight," said head coach Rob Colbert.  "Tom Doyle was very good in the second half, he really got us going.   They really packed it in on Nate, and encouraged us to shoot from outside.  Their zone bothered us until the final five or six minutes."  

The Owls had led by as many as eight with 5:08 left in the first half, but Elms outscored KSC 20-10 over the remainder of the period to take a 38-36 lead at halftime.  The Blazers led through most of the second half, going up 62-57 on Buchanon's jumper with 6:49 to play, but Doyle's layup and Ozzella's free throw got KSC within one before the dramatic final three minutes.

KSC will return to Spaulding Gym for a matchup with Lyndon State College on Saturday at 3 p.m.  Elms will play at Springfield on November 20 at 7 p.m.