Box Score GORHAM, Maine – With the score tied at 67 with 2:15 to play, Plymouth State's Petey Skevas scored the Panthers final six points of the game to lead his team to a hard-fought 73-69 Little East Conference win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies Tuesday night at Hill Gym.
With the win, Plymouth State improves to 9-7 overall and 3-3 in the Little East. Southern Maine is now 5-11 and 1-5 in the conference.
Skevas led five Panthers in double-figures with 13 points and had a game-high seven assists. Curtis Arsenault added 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting off of the bench and Alex Burt tossed in 11 points. Shomari Morgan and Mark MacGregor each scored 10 points.
Southern Maine senior Conor Sullivan (Scarborough, Maine) was 13-for-18 from the field for a career-high 30 points to pace the Huskies. Sophomore Jacob Littlefield (Mechanic Falls, Maine/Poland) tossed in 15 points, including a 3-for-6 mark from three-point range. Senior Tyler Penney (Barnstead, N.H./Bishop Brady) added eight points, while senior James Odneal (Pontiac, Mich.) added seven points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.
In a well-played first half, Southern Maine led the Panthers 34-29 as Sullivan was 6-for-8 from the field for 12 points. The Huskies' trailed PSU 24-22 with 4:38 in the half, but closed the opening stanza on a 12-5 run spurred by back-to-back three-pointers from Littlefield.
In the second half, PSU used a 7-2 run to pull even with the Huskies. A three from Burt at 18:28 made the score 36 all and sent the game into a see-saw battle. The Huskies regained the lead on a slashing layup from Sullivan, but could not pull away from the Panthers as both teams traded baskets. Ahead by four, 49-45, on another layup from Sullivan at the 12:08 mark, Plymouth State mounted a decisive 11-2 run over the next three minutes to grab the lead from the Huskies. A four-point play from Burt on a three and a free throw swung the momentum in favor of the Panthers to key the run, while Morgan connected on back-to-back layups to counter a short jumper from USM's Odneal for a 53-51 lead. A free throw from Skevas and a layup from Uche Nwokeji made it 56-51 with 9:53 to play.
PSU stayed ahead of Southern Maine and led by five, 64-59, with 6:15 to play before the Huskies rallied with a 6-0 run to grab the narrowest of leads 65-64 capped by a three from Sullivan with 3:41 to play. Both teams again battled back and forth and the Huskies led 67-65 with 2:37 to play before the Panthers' Skevas led his team to the win scoring six of the Panthers final eight points.
Southern Maine travels to Western Connecticut on Saturday (3:00 p.m.). Plymouth State heads to UMass Dartmouth (3:00 p.m.).
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