GORHAM, Maine  – Senior guard Alex Kee (Bath, ME/Morse) scored a game-high 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting from the field to lead the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 71-46 win over the Plymouth State University Panthers in a Little East Conference matchup at Hill Gym Tuesday night.

         With the win, Southern Maine improves to 11-7 and 6-2 in the LEC. Plymouth State drops to 3-14 and 1-7 in conference play with the loss.

         Plymouth State senior guard Kevin Eisenberg (Moultonborough, N.H./Moultonborough Academy) drained a jumper 51 seconds into the game giving the Panthers an early lead, but Southern Maine junior guard Conor Sullivan (Scarborough, Maine) scored just over a minute and a half later to tie the score at two, and the Huskies never trailed after that, pulling ahead by as many as 25 points in the second half.

         Kee added four rebounds, two assists and one steal to go along with his 15 points. Junior Brandon Tomah (Princeton, Maine/Calais) scored nine points, and Sullivan and junior forward James Odneal (Pontiac, Mich./Bottineau) each scored seven points. Freshman forward Omar Haji-Hersi (Auburn, Maine/Edward Little) scored a career-high six points in two minutes of play, while senior forward Sean Bergeron (Kennebunk, Maine) and freshman guard Cole Libby (Buxton, Maine/Bonny Eagle) each scored five. Odneal also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, and freshman Jeremy Chambers (Pontiac, Mich./Bottineau) added a team-high three assists.

         The Huskies held the Panthers to 17 points on 20 percent shooting from the field in the first half, heading into the break with a 31-17 lead.

         Plymouth junior guard Petey Skevas (Wethersfield, Conn.) scored 1:16 into the second half, making the score 31-19 before USM rattled off a 7-0 run to jump out to a 38-19 lead at the 16:36 mark. The Huskies gained their largest lead when a jumper from sophomore forward Tyler Penney (Barnstead, N.H./Bishop Brady) put USM up 51-26 with 8:33 remaining in the game.

         Sophomore guard Alex Burt (Dover, N.H.) led Plymouth with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field and a 2-for-5 mark from beyond the arc. Junior forward Mark MacGregor (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding) had a game-high 10 rebounds, and Skevas and freshman forward Uche Nwokeji (Lynn, Mass./Lynn Classical) scored nine points apiece.

         Southern Maine returns to action when they travel to Western Connecticut for an LEC matchup on Saturday (3:00 p.m.).