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Rashad Wright and the Owls dominated the glass in Tuesday night's win at Western Connecticut. |
Four teams ranked in the men's Top 25 played conference opponents on Tuesday night and none of those ranked teams won.
Keene State beat No. 16 Western Connecticut 81-76 to end the Colonials' nine game winning streak and erase their one game lead in the Little East standings. The Owls led for most of the second half and finished with a 58-31 rebounding advantage. Western Connecticut held Keene State's leading scorer Derek D'Amours to three points but Ryan Martin more than compensated for that by scoring 23. Nicco DeMasco had a double-double (11 points, 13 rebounds) for the Owls.
McDaniel posted the most unlikely upset by holding No. 18 Franklin and Marshall almost 30 points below its scoring average in a 61-53 Green Terror victory. McDaniel entered the night just 5-7 this season and 21-70 all time against the Diplomats. Franklin and Marshall led 51-43 with 6:33 to play but didn't make another field goal the rest of the game.
The highest ranked upset came in Wisconsin where Ripon knocked off No. 15 St. Norbert 70-60. The Red Hawks snapped a three-game losing streak and moved into a tie for first place in the MWC. In the same conference, Illinois College improved to 5-1 and 9-2 overall with a 104-92 win against Grinnell.
Utica cooled off No. 20 Ithaca and picked up its first win in Empire 8 play, 85-81. Jordan Marcus scored 27 points for the Bombers but Will Abrams did him four better by scoring 31 for the victorious Pioneers.
Not all Top 25 teams lost on Tuesday night. Brandeis followed up Saturday's dramatic win over No. 25 NYU with another close game, this time edging Bates 53-50. The Judges, who outscored the Violets 23-3 to rally and win on Saturday, almost got a taste of their own medicine. Bates nearly erased a 12-point deficit, closing to within one with 28 seconds left. But Tyrone Hughes hit two free throws for Brandeis and Bates missed two three-pointers that would have tied the game. Meanwhile NYU bounced back and rolled over Hunter 85-59.
In women's action, No. 6 Kean won a thriller over visiting and top-ranked Amherst 85-82 in overtime. The loss is the Lord Jeffs' first regular season defeat since Jan. 30, 2009. No. 9 Illinois Wesleyan followed up Saturday's win at Carthage by beating Millikin on the road, 77-59.
Madison Slagle scored 17 points and Oneonta State held off Oswego State 56-53 to stay tied for first in the SUNYAC. The Red Dragons are 5-0 in conference as is New Paltz State, which beat the other Red Dragons, Cortland State, 59-54.