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Owl Men Fall to Anchormen in LEC Tournament Semifinals
Providence, RI-Sophomore guard Antone Gray (Providence, RI) scored a game-high 19 points to lead No. 17 and top-seeded Rhode Island College past fourth-seeded Keene State, 78-50, in the semifinals of the 2009 Little East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at The Murray Center.
The Anchormen (23-4) establish a new program record with their 14th consecutive win. Keene State (12-14), which was held to its lowest offensive output this winter, ends its season with the loss.
RIC will host the winner of sixth-seeded Western Connecticut vs. second-seeded UMass Dartmouth (8 p.m.) in the finals tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. It is the third straight season the hosts have advanced to the title contest, as well as, eliminating Keene State from the conference tournament.
The Anchormen cracked the scoring column first on a bucket from senior forward Kaseem Johnson (New Haven CT), then opened up an 8-2 lead with a three-pointer from senior guard Bobby Bailey (Fall River, MA) and three free throws from classmate center Wil Lyons (Warwick, RI).
Gray drove to the hoop and banked a shot in off the glass and freshman forward Mason Choice (Newport, RI) muscled in a putback to raise the advantage to eight, 12-4, at 15:17.
Keene State senior forward Tyler Kathan (Ludlow, VT) hit a jump shot at 13:57 to pull the Owls within six, 13-7. Rhode Island College responded with back-to-back scores as Gray canned a three from the top of the key and senior backcourt mate Tirrell Hill (Bronx, NY) made a layup to give the hosts an 11-point advantage, 18-7, at 12:07.
KSC senior forward Nate Anderson (Westminster, MA) hit three consecutive free throws to pull the visitors within eight, 18-10, at 10:52. Gray and senior guard Cameron Stewart (Newport, RI) each nailed triples to increase the lead to 12, 24-12, at 8:17.
Kathan drained a trifecta at 6:58, but Stewart answered with a three-ball of his own to make the score, 29-15, at 5:04. Anderson and Kathan hit back-to-back buckets, and then freshman guard Tavonne Reid (Bridgeport, CT) pulled up in the paint to bury a jumper, trimming the deficit back to eight, 29-21, at 3:18.
A freshman forward Darius Debnam (Mattapan, MA) layup put the RIC lead back to double digits, and after a Bailey block, Debnam found Johnson on the block for an easy layup to send the Anchormen into the half up by 12, 35-23.
RIC shot 41 percent (13-for-32) from the field scored 13 points off of nine Owl turnovers during the first 20 minutes. KSC shot 27 percent (9-for-34) and scored 10 points off of nine Anchormen miscues.
Rhode Island College opened the second half on a 10-4 run, paced by two Johnson layups and five points, on a three and layup, from Gray, to make the score, 45-27, at 16:49.
Stewart nailed a wide-open triple from the corner at 15:03 and Gray followed with one of his own, forcing the visitors to call a timeout, down by 22, 51-29, at 14:22. The Gray long ball capped a 16-6 run to open the final stanza for the Anchormen.
Rhode Island College came out of the timeout on a 12-5 run, opening up a 29-point, 63-34, lead with 8:30 left to play. Johnson had a layup and two free throws during the scoring spurt.
The visitors never got within 20 points of RIC the rest of the game. Bailey capped the win with a thunderous one-handed dunk at 3:11. Rhode Island College shot 49 percent (26-for-53) for the game. Keene State finished at 27 percent (18-for-66) from the field. Johnson, Bailey and Stewart joined Gray in double figures with 13 and 10-point efforts, respectively. Johnson led RIC with seven rebounds, while Lyons and Hill were one off the pace.
Kathan, who was one rebound shy of a double-double effort, and Anderson led the Owls with 15 points apiece.
(Courtesy RIC Sports Information)
