KEENE, N.H.--The Keene State College men's basketball team has appeared in the second set of NCAA Region II rankings, the NCAA men's basketball championship committee announced on Tuesday.

The Owls are sixth in the first ranked ranking - WPI (20-2) leads the pack, followed by fellow LEC school UMass Dartmouth (20-3), Nichols College (20-2), Babson College (17-6), and Emerson College (15-6).    The Owls are 1-4 against regionally ranked opponents this year.

Keene State closes the regular season on the road against UMass Boston on February 19.  A win combined with an Eastern Connecticut State loss to Western Connecticut State on February 16 would give the Owls the No. 2 seed in next week's conference tournament.  If the Warriors defeat WestConn, Keene State will be the No. 3 seed based on LEC tiebreakers, regardless of Saturday's result.

KSC is 16-6 overall, and 11-4 in the LEC.  Keene State is led by junior forward Jeff Hunter (16.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 2.0 bpg), sophomore guard Mason Jean Baptiste (14.4 ppg, 36.1% 3PFG), freshman forward Octavio Brito (11.6 ppg, 40.2% 3PFG), and sophomore guard Nate Siow (10.8 ppg, 5.5 apg).