WILLIMANTIC, Conn.--The No. 2 seed Keene State College men's basketball team held No. 3 seed UMass Dartmouth scoreless for the final 6:56 as the Owls advanced to the championship game of the Little East Conference tournament with an 85-67 win over the Corsairs at Geissler Gym on Friday night.

Records

• Keene State: 19-9
• UMass Dartmouth: 17-10

How It Happened

Ty Nichols led all players with 25 points, shooting 8-for-9 from the field and 8-for-13 from the free throw line, adding five rebounds and five steals.   Jeff Lunn tossed in 21 points with two blocks shots, and Jaquel Edwards added 11 points.  Matt Ozzella led all players with eight rebounds.

The Corsairs got 16 points from Chris Mendes and 10 each from Atakan Akacam and Tucker Bouchard.  Leading scorer Jon Robinson was held to two points on 1-for-9 shooting before drawing a pair of technical fouls and getting ejected with 1:47 to play.  Mendes had also been tossed earlier in the contest.

When Atkam scored with 7:25 left in the game, the Corsairs led 66-61.  After Lucas Hammel hit a pair of free throws, Atkam responded by hitting one shot at the line, but the Corsairs would not score again.  Nichols sank a layup and was fouled to cut the lead to two, and though he missed the free throw, Ozzella grabbed the rebound and swished a three pointer to put the Owls up for the first time in the second half, a lead they would not relinquish.

Hammel picked the pocket of Josh Nelson and went coast-to-coast for a layup that made it 72-67, and after Lunn scored inside for a 10 point lead (77-67), Nichols broke away for a dunk that put KSC up by 12.   UMass Dartmouth simply could not generate any offense, missing their final eight shots from the field and committing four turnovers during that run.  Nick Gagliolo scored inside to give KSC the final margin of victory.

The game had been close throughout the first half, with neither team going up by more than four until the final minutes.  Nick Portelance converted a three point play with 3:07 to go for a 35-30 lead for the Corsairs, but Jake Collagan's shot just ahead of the first half buzzer sent the Owls into halftime down just 39-38

In The Paint

• Keene State advances to the final for the third year in a row.  The Owls have won the last two LEC tournament titles, defeating Rhode Island College 75-57 in 2015, and UMass Dartmouth 86-81 in 2016.  Both those wins came at Eastern Connecticut State.
• KSC has also reached the title game in 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2013, taking the title in 2004.  
• The Owls took two of the three matchups with the Corsairs this year, improving to 2-0 on neutral courts this year.
• Keene State is attempting to be only the second school to three-peat in the LEC Championship, after UMass Dartmouth did so from 1993-1995.
• The winner of Saturday's game gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship.

Up Next

• Keene State will play top seeded Eastern Connecticut State in the championship game at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
• The Corsairs, ranked No. 11 in the most recent NCAA Northeast Regional poll, likely have their season come to an end.