KEENE, N.H. – Jordan Cooper was a one-man highlight reel with a game-high 24 points, including pouring in nine with a three and two huge dunks in a game-breaking 20-4 run midway through the second half as the Keene State College men's basketball team pulled away to a 91-65 rout of Plymouth State University in Little East Conference action Wednesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

The win moves the Owls (12-9, 8-4 LEC) to 6-1 in their last seven games and vaults them to within one game of first place in the conference, currently held by Western Connecticut State University (9-3 LEC) who swept the University of Massachusetts-Boston (9-3) with an 80-73 home win in Danbury tonight.  KSC is tied with the University of Southern Maine for third with the 8-4 mark but picked up a crucial season sweep of the Huskies this past Saturday as part of their uprising.  The Owls also began the turnaround with a 63-59 road victory at WestConn, with the season's second meeting against the Wolves sure to be a big one next Saturday, which is also KSC's next home game (one of two remaining).  Plymouth (6-14, 2-9 LEC), who picked up a stunning 78-76 win over the Owls in early January in Plymouth after trailing by 12 with six minutes left, is two games out of the last playoff spot and saw their fleeting playoff hopes further dimmed.

KSC ensured there would be no upset tonight with a powerful second half in which they outscored PSU 51-30, the most important stretch of the game beginning with 12:30 left when Leo Chaikin's and-one made a five-point lead eight.  Ryan Blakey's trey on the next possession made it 62-51 and the Owls unleashed a rapid avalanche, with Cooper finishing the second of several flushes on the night with 10:33 left to make it 64-55.  He and Mitch Shettles drained triples within a minute of each other shortly thereafter to balloon the lead quickly to 17 (72-55) with 8:15 to go, and two more dunks later including a putback slam off Shettles' missed three and another in transition pushed the edge over 20.  Cooper iced his night with another triple that put KSC in front 81-58 with 5:37 on the clock, and the Owls led by as many as 29 in the closing minutes as Joe Fitzgerald and Edric Louissaint also drained threes.

The second half was completely lopsided on the statsheet, with KSC shooting 17-for-28 (61 percent) from the field including an impressive 8-for-14 from three.  For the second straight second half, the Owls clamped down on defense, limiting Plymouth to just 11-for-34 (32 percent) and 4-of-19 from deep in the final 20 minutes.

Keene State led for most of the first half but could not gain much separation as the Panthers used a balanced scoring attack and five threes to remain within five at the break.  The Owls led 8-2 early, but Torran Bosworth made consecutive triples within 30 seconds of each other to tie it and prevent Plymouth from being quickly run out of the gym.  The Panthers never led by more than one, but stayed right there until a late 9-0 KSC run turned a 31-31 tie into a 40-31 lead for the hosts on Joshua Williams' three with 1:04 left in the half.  Caden Brown and Asante' Aurora layups in the last minute gave the Panthers a boost heading into the break, though, down only five.  KSC swiftly pushed their lead to 10 within the first three minutes out of the break, but Plymouth chipped in half slowly before the Owls put them out of the game with their impressive run.