Keene State Hosts R.I. College in ECAC Basketball Semifinals
KEENE, N.H. 03/2/06 - Keene State College’s Matt Hickey picked a good time to hit his only basket of the game in the Owls’ ECAC tournament quarterfinal game against Colby-Sawyer College on Wednesday night.
The sophomore guard from Mahopac, N.Y., drained a baseline three-pointer with just 3.2 seconds to play to lift top seed Keene State (21-7) to a dramatic 80-77 victory over eighth seed Colby-Sawyer and catapult the Owls into the semifinals against fourth seed Rhode Island College. The semifinal game will take place Friday night at Spaulding Gym (7 p.m.).
RIC (18-9) advanced with a thrilling 70-68 quarterfinal win in overtime against fifth seed Coast Guard. Brian Stanko led the Anchormen with a career- high 29 points.
In the other quarterfinals games, second seed MIT defeated seventh seed Plymouth State 60-55, and sixth seed Wheaton College upset third seed Emmanuel College 82-65. MIT will host Wheaton in the other semifinal game on Friday. If KSC prevails, the championship game will be played Saturday at 4 p.m. Regardless of the semifinal results, it will be the Little East Conference vs. the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) for the championship.
This will be round 3 between KSC and RIC this season. The two LEC rivals split their two regular season meetings with each team posting a home victory. The Owls defeated RIC 99-86 in Keene on Dec. 3 while the Anchormen came back to edge KSC 75-67 in Providence on Jan. 21.
“We know each other extremely well,” said KSC Coach Rob Colbert. “Each team has a particular strength. We have a little bit more size, but they have the advantage when it comes to quickness. It will be interesting to see which team can best utilize its strength.”
Anthony Licitra provided the Owls with a much-needed boost against Colby- Sawyer. Filling in for an ill Kevin Ritter, the sophomore guard finished with a career-high 20 points. “Anthony did an incredible job for us,” Colbert said. “He didn’t find out until an hour before the game that he was going to start.”
Keene State is no stranger to the ECAC tournament. The Owls are making their seventh trip to the regional tournament in the past nine years. KSC has reached the finals on two occasions: losing to Colby-Sawyer (102-95) in 1998 and falling to Babson College (81-71) in 2003.
Rhode Island College is making its ninth appearance in the tournament. The Anchormen, who lost in last year’s final to Wheaton (77-68), won the title in 1983.
The Keene State women’s basketball team saw its ECAC Championship hopes dashed with a 73-64 quarterfinal loss to Emmanuel College on Wednesday. The Owls had three players score in double figures. Senior forward Stacey Morse pumped in 16 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. Junior forward Sarah Begnoche notched a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards, while senior guard Bekka Hopkins netted 12 points, including 3 first-half three-pointers.
KSC concludes its season with a 16-11 record.
