Keene State Escapes Men's Basketball on Last-Second Bucket

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – With less than three seconds remaining, Keene State sophomore guard Paul Edmin (Hartsdale, N.Y) put back a missed layup to send the Owls to a 70-68 victory over Men's Basketball Tuesday night at Picknelly Arena.

The Owls raced to an early 6-0 lead in the opening minutes. With 13:52 to play in the first half, Elms senior forward Kenny Lockett (Atlanta, Ga.) buried a jumper from the baseline to give the Blazers their first lead, 10-8. The squads traded the lead for the next few minutes, but a 12-4 run, fueled by six points from Keene State sophomore guard Matt Ozzella (Medway, Mass.) gave the Owls their largest lead of the contest, 26-18, with 5:08 to play in the half. The Blazers stormed back with a 15-7 run, powered by six-point efforts from junior guard Jerry Buchanon (Windsor, Conn.) and freshman guard Keeshaun King (Jacksonville, Fla.) to knot the game at 33-33. A jumper from Elms junior guard Piere Simpson at the buzzer gave the Blazers a 38-36 lead heading into halftime.

Elms maintained their advantage over the Owls a majority of the second half as the Owls would tie the game twice. A jumper from Buchanon with 6:49 to play matched the Blazers largest lead of the game, 62-57. Keene State chipped away at the Elms lead again with a 6-1 run behind three points from junior center Nate Howard (Chesire, Conn.), to make it a 63-63 game with 3:14 remaining. The Owls regained the lead but free throws from the Blazers would tie the game yet again at 68-68 with 16 second to play. On the ensuing final possession, the Owls picked up a pair of offensive rebounds before the game-winner from Edmin sent the Owls off with a 70-68 win.

The Blazers had two players reach double-digit point totals in the game, led Buchanon with a team-high 16 points, shooting 5-of-13 from the floor, with three assists. Lockett netted 15 points, connecting on a perfect 7-of-7 free throws, with nine rebounds. Junior guard Tim Putnam (Windsor Locks, Conn.) and sophomore guard Conny Ihearahu (Largo, Md.) each added nine points, while junior forward Kadar Lynch (Springfield, Mass.) tallied nine points, nine rebounds and five blocks.

Keene State was paced by a game-high 26 points from senior forward Tom Doyle (Wallingford, Conn.), who added two rebounds and two assists. Howard had 11 points with six rebounds, while Ozzella scored nine points with nine rebounds in the win.

"It was a well-fought game between two teams who competed hard," said Elms Head Coach Rob Southall. "Unfortunately, it came down to some missed layups and some missed free throws. Overall, it was a very tough game. I would've liked to have seen one more stop tonight. I thought our defense played pretty well in the second half, we stymied them, they were hesitant, and that allowed us to get a lot of stops in a row. Moving forward, I think we need to improve on our execution, and especially our execution down the stretch."

The Owls edged the Blazers, 37-29, in rebounding during the contest. The Blazers shot 38.9% (21-of-54) from the field, including 33.3% (5-of-15) from three-point, and 65.6% (21-of-32) from the free throw line. Keene State was 46.2% (24-of-52) from the floor, 45.5% (5-of-11) from three-point range, and 70.8% (17-of-24) from the charity stripe.

The Blazers drop to 1-2 on the season, while Keene State improves to 3-0 overall. Elms will return to action in a road trip to Springfield College Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. Keene State hosts Lyndon State Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.

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