DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Powered by double-figure efforts from six different players, Keene State defeated UMass Dartmouth, 108-96 in Little East Conference men's basketball action on Wednesday evening. The 23rd-ranked Owls move to 14-3 overall and remain perfect in LEC play at 8-0, while the Corsairs are now 5-11 overall and 2-6 in conference play.
It was a plentiful half of scoring in the opening 20 minutes of play as Keene State held a 53-46 lead heading into halftime. Junior guard
Josh Lopes led all scorers in the first stanza, dropping in 13 points – including seven straight points late in the half.
Despite the momentum heading into halftime, the Corsairs were unable to hold off Keene State, who got three-pointers from senior guard Octavio Brito and classmate Spencer Aronson to open a 61-48 lead. Junior guard
John Marcille laid down a four-point play in response, nailing a three and hitting a shot from the line off the ensuing foul to make it a nine-point (61-52) contest.
Keene State continued to answer on the other end as Aronson drained another shot from beyond the arc, coupled with a layup from Jean Baptiste for the 66-52 advantage with 17:02 remaining. Another three-pointer from Marcille, along with a three at 13:44 from grad student guard
Isaac Percy helped close the gap to 73-64.
UMass Dartmouth continued to answer minutes later on a driving layup from rookie guard
Camden DiChiara, but Keene State responded on the other end with junior guard Mitch Shettles hitting the Owls 15th three-pointer of the contest at 11:44 to regain a 10-point (78-68) lead for the visitors.
The teams continued to trade buckets, but UMD was unable to slow down the Owls, who got back-to-back jumpers for an 89-75 advantage with 8:49 on the clock. The Corsairs went on a 4-0 run to close the margin to 10 points (93-83) as Percy sank a layup, while DiChiara hit a pair of shots from the free throw line, but the Owls continued to answer as Brito dunked it with 4:26 to go for a 97-85 score.
UMD could not hold off the Owls as Brito posted three consecutive to push the visitors over 100 points – adding a layup and a dunk for the 106-93 differential with 48 seconds to play. Freshman guard
Danny Reyes drained a three-pointer at the two-second mark to close out the game's scoring.
Percy led the Corsairs in scoring, dropping in 20 points with eight rebounds. He added an assist with a block and a steal on the night. Lopes finished with 19 points, adding two boards and three steals, while Marcille posted 16 points, including a 3-for-6 effort from three-point range. DiChiara, Reyes and junior center
Ryan Flauto all had 10 points with Flauto posting a team-high nine rebounds.
UMass Dartmouth is back on the court on Saturday, welcoming Bates College to the Tripp Athletic Center for a 1pm non-conference tilt.
