GORHAM, Maine  –  Junior Chance Dixon (Lake Worth, Fla./Santaluces) scored a game and team-high 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting, including 14 second half points, to help the University of Southern Maine Huskies to a 62-57 win over the Plymouth State University Panthers in a Little East Conference men's basketball game Wednesday night at Hill Gymnasium. 
 
The only player in double-figures for the Huskies, Southern Maine senior Cody Hawes (Carmel, Maine/Hermon) had nine points, 10 rebounds, while freshman Tommy Whelan (Bronx, NY/Fordham Prep) added nine points off of the bench.  Junior Simon Chadbourne (Westbrook, Maine) had four points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists, while senior Jason Lombard (Anchorage, Alaska/Chugiak) added six points.
 
Plymouth State's Kyler Bosse also earned game-high honors with 25 points on 11-for-24 shooting, adding a team-high nine rebounds.  Giorgi Tsiklauri added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Panthers, while Kevin Henry tossed in 10 points and snagged five rebounds.  Bosse, Tsiklauri and Henry combined for 46 of the Panthers' 57 points. 
 
 
The Records:
Plymouth State (6-7, 0-5 Little East)
Southern Maine (8-5, 2-2 Little East)]
 
Series History:  Tonight's contest marked the 149th meeting between the Panthers and the Huskies. With today's win, Southern Maine has 70 of the wins in the series. In their last meeting, the Panthers defeated Southern Maine 72-70 on February 9, 2022.
 
How It Happened:

• Despite a buzzer beating three to end the half from Husky freshman Tommy Whelan (Bronx, NY/Fordham Prep), Southern Maine trailed Plymouth State at the half 30-26.  The Panthers' Kyle Bosser had 11 of his teams 30 first-half points, shooting 5-for-12 from the field.
• Plymouth State opened the second half on a 7-2 run to increase its advantage to 37-28 in the opening two and a half minutes.  Giorgi Tsiklauri keyed the run with a three to start the half.
• Facing a nine point deficit, Southern Maine rattled off its largest run of the game, 11-0, and took its first lead of the contest 39-37 at the 13:06 mark of the second half.  Dixon scored five of his 24 points in the run, including a three-pointer. 
• Both teams settled into back-and-forth play with neither team taking more than a single possession lead until Southern Maine's Simon Chadbourne (Westbrook, Maine) and Dixon scored back to back runners in the paint for, Dixon canned another three and then made a layup to lead 55-48 with 3:09 to play.
• PSU answered back with consecutive jumpers from Bosse and Tsiklauri for a 55-52 score with 2:23.   Both teams came up empty on several possessions before USM closed it out on the line. PSU made it a three point game, 60-57, with nine seconds to play following two free throws from Tsiklauri, but Whelan converted two of his own for the 62-57 final. 

 
Inside The Stats:

• Led by nine points from Whelan, Southern Maine's bench outscored Plymouth State's 15-2.
• Both teams struggled from three point territory.  PSU shot 18.2 percent (2-for-11), while Southern Maine was 6-for-28 and 21.4 percent. Dixon had four of the Huskies' six threes.
• Plymouth State had a 40-32 lead in rebounds led by nine boards from Kyler Bosse and seven from Giorgi Tsiklauri. Bosse's three offensive boards, helped the Panthers to an 8-4 edge on the offensive glass, and an 8-4 margin on second chance points.

 
 
Up Next:
The Huskies remains in Little East Conference action and travels to UMass Dartmouth on Saturday (3:00 pm). The Huskies return home on January 12 for an LEC match up with Eastern Connecticut (3:00 pm).    
 
-cac-