With the win Keene State improves to 18-6 overall and 11-3 in the Little East while the Huskies drop to 10-15 overall and 3-11 in the LEC with the loss. The win combined with a UMass Boston loss gives Keene State the top-seed in the Little East Conference tournament. The Huskies will enter the LEC tournament as the eight-seed and will travel to Keene State on Tuesday (February 21) for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
Ritter finished the game with 15 points, while senior forward Sean Sullivan (Athol, Mass./Athol) was a force inside for the Owls scoring a game-high 28 points on 11-for-16 shooting mark from the floor and a 6-for-6 effort from the free throw line. Freshman forward Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, Vermont/Springfield) added 14 points for Keen State and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
Senior forward Bill Hardwick (Boothbay, Maine/Boothbay Region) scored 20 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to lead Southern Maine. Sophomore guards Walter Phillips (Portland, Maine/Bridgton Academy) and Andy Frost (Brewer, Maine/Brewer) added 14 and 11 points respectively for the Huskies. Frost also passed off a team-high four assist.
After rallying from a 10-point first half deficit to take a slim 34-32 lead at the break the Huskies found themselves in a back-and-forth battle with Keene State in the second half as both teams answered each other’s baskets to force 13 second half ties and seven lead changes.
After a steal and an assist from Frost to freshman guard Charlie O’Neill (Seymour, Conn./Wibraham & Monson) for a lay-up, the Huskies pulled into the 11th tie of the half, 61-61 with 4:36 remaining. In its next possession, Keene State pulled ahead 63-61 on a jumper from Sullivan, before the Huskies battled on the boards to come up with two offensive rebounds to lead to a driving jumper in the paint from Phillips to knot the score up again 63-63 with 3:28 on the clock.
Southern Maine went ahead by one 64-63 on one of two free throws from Frost with 2:42 showing, but sophomore guard Matt Hickey (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) gave Keene State the lead right back, 66-64 with a three-pointer on the Owl’s next possession. The half saw its 13th tied score of the game when USM’s Phillips scored his 10th point of the half to pull the Huskies even with the Owls 66-66 with 1:57 to play, before Ritter gave the Owls the lead for good, 68-66, with 1:25 to play as USM misfired on its last three shots of the game, including two threes as the clock expired.