Box Score KEENE, N.H.--Eastern Connecticut State University held off Keene State College in the final seconds to post a 72-69 victory in Little East Conference men's basketball action on Tuesday night.
The Owls are now 7-14, and 4-7 in the LEC, while the Warriors remain unbeaten in the LEC with a 17-5 overall record, and an 11-0 LEC mark.
The Warriors' Mike Garrow (Terryville, Conn.) led all scorers with 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Trachone Preston (Enfield, Conn.) added 19 points and Kevin Leumene (Stamford, Conn.) had 11. Hugh Lindo (Enfield, Conn.) pulled down 15 rebounds for ECSU.
The Owls were led by Nate Howard (Cheshire, Conn.), who scored 15 points with eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Tom Doyle (Wallingford, Conn.) posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Down four with 34 seconds remaining, KSC made it a one possession game after Lucas Hammel (Methuen, Mass.) went 1-for-2 from the free throw line. Nick Gagliolo (Peabody, Mass.) grabbed the rebound off the miss, and after two KSC timeouts, Matt Sherlock's three at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
Leading 44-34 at halftime, KSC scored the first basket of the second half through Jaquel Edwards (Manchester, Conn.), but the Warriors responded with 14 straight points capped by a jumper from Mike Garrow (Terryville, Conn.) for a 48-46 lead.
KSC hit back with 11 straight points of their own, the last of which was a layup from Owen Murphy (Plymouth, Mass.) with 11:44 left to play that gave the Owls a 57-50 lead.
Garrow hit two free throws with 8:12 to play that put ECSU in front to stay, but KSC always kept it close, never letting the Warriors up by more than four.
The Owls had raced out to an 14-7 lead in the first 3:40 of the game as Jim Hepple (Newington, Conn.) knocked down a pair of deep three pointers. The Warriors responded with a 9-4 run over the next six minutes, as Garrow fed Brandon Kucenski (Naugatuck, Conn.) for a basket, then scored himself as the Warriors trimmed the deficit to 18-16 at the 12:48 mark.
KSC slowly pulled ahead, as Howard knocked down a pair of foul shots and layups from Tre' Tipton (Stamford, Conn.) and Jeff Lunn (Nashua, N.H.) increased the lead to 28-20, and Sherlock's breakaway dunk pushed the Owls out in front 32-23.
Garrow's jumper with 5:40 to play got the Warriors within four (36-32), but KSC finished the half by scoring eight of the final 10 points. Tom Doyle sent the Owls into the break up 44-34 by putting back the miss of his own three pointer, then sinking a layup at the 1:03 mark.
The Warriors held a massive advantage at the free throw line, shooting 27-of-33 from the charity stripe, while KSC was 12-19. Eastern Connecticut outrebounded KSC 42-36, including 19-9 on the offensive end.
"Credit to Eastern Connecticut, they tightened up their defense in the second half. The kids battled hard; I feel like we're getting better, and I feel like our confidence is growing, but it's not turning into wins. But we're not going to quit, we're going to keep fighting."
KSC travels to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Thursday night at 7 pm for a non-conference contest. Eastern Connecticut State will host UMass-Dartmouth in an LEC game on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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