With the win Southern Maine improves to 9-15 overall and 4-9 in the LEC while Plymouth State drops to 17-7 overall and 9-4 in conference action. Suffering their second straight loss, the Panthers slipped into a three-way tie atop the conference with Rhode Island College and Western Connecticut State University.
In a game with nine ties and 14 lead changes, Levecque’s clutch heroics began with 30 seconds to play when he drilled a three-pointer to give the Huskies a two-point edge at 86-84 following senior forward Ryan Garland’s (Hermon, Maine/Hermon) game-high 10th assist. The Panthers answered right back, however, with senior guard Nick Pelotte’s (Bingham, Maine/Valley) third three-ball of the game to swing the score in favor of Plymouth State, 87-86.
Following a 30-second time out, the Huskies in-bounded the ball and took it the length of the floor where a driving Franceour connected with a slashing Levecque for the game-winner. Levecque was fouled on the play by Plymouth State junior guard Peter Hutchins (New London, N.H./Keasarg) but did not convert the free throw. Pelotte took a jumper from the top left of the key as time expired but missed and Southern Maine junior forward Jesse McKinnell (Manomet, Mass./Scituate) grabbed the rebound – his seventh of the game - as the buzzer sounded.
Levecque and Franceour paced the Huskies tallying 20 points each to lead five Huskies in double-figures. Franceour also had six assists and three steals for Southern Maine. Junior forward Bill Hardwick (Boothbay, Maine/Boothbay Region) scored 16 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in a tremendous effort off of the bench for the Huskies, while Garland and McKinnell chipped in with 10 points each.
Pelotte finished the game with a double-double on 25 points and 13 rebounds, both game-highs, and added six assists and three steals. Panther sophomore forward Andreas Pope (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) was 10-of-14 from the floor en route to a 23-point, 9-rebound performance, while junior guard Mark Dunham (Salem, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) and junior center Kevin Boutilier (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) added 12 and 10 points respectively.
The Huskies finished the game shooting 52.5 percent (31-59) from the field including a blazing 64 percent (16-25) effort in the second half to earn the win. Plymouth State shot 47.9 percent from the field connecting on 35-of-73 attempts.
Southern Maine returns to action on the road at UMass Dartmouth, Saturday, February 19 at 3 p.m. The Panther also play on the road on Saturday, February 19 at Western Connecticut State.