BOSTON, Mass. - Junior guard Ben Huntington (Hampstead, N.H.) netted a game-high 23 points Tuesday evening to lead the Plymouth State University men's basketball team over host University of Massachusetts Boston, 71-65, in a Little East Conference match-up at the Clark Athletic Center.

              The Panthers picked up their first conference win of the season and stopped their nine-game losing streak.  PSU is now 4-10 overall and 1-3 in Little East games, while the Beacons fall to 1-12 overall and 0-4 in LEC action.

              Huntington, who leads the LEC in scoring at 18.4 points per game, scored more than 20 points for the sixth time this season.  He added six rebounds and three assists and was a perfect 8-for-8 in free throw attempts, and is now shooting 91.4 percent from the line for the season.  Senior Chris Wilkinson (Newmarket, N.H.) nearly posted a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore forward Mike Chergey (Bow, N.H.) chipped in with nine points in 16 minutes off the bench.  Freshman guard Ian Dempsey (Andover, Mass.) also contributed with eight points off the bench.

              Senior Amigo Paniagua (Santiago, D.R.) finished with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Beacons, while senior Mark Doran (South Boston, Mass.) ended the evening with 17 points.  Sophomore Terrell Maddox (Hyannis, Mass.) came off the bench to contribute 10 points and sophomore Anthony Matlock (Seattle, Wash.) dropped in eight points.

              UMass Boston maintained a modest lead the first 10 minutes of the game and held a 21-16 margin with 10:18 showing.  Plymouth State went on a 16-6 burst, paced by six points from senior Miles Roberge (Franklin, N.H.), to take a 32-27 lead with 3:33 to play, and end up with a 38-31 advantage at the intermission.

              The Beacons opened the second half by outscoring Plymouth State, 9-4, to pull to within 42-40, but the Panthers responded with a 10-2 stretch to take a 52-42 lead with 11:14 remaining.  UMass Boston made one last push with an 11-5 burst to pull to within 62-59 with 4:44 left, but it would be as close as it would get.  The Panthers put the game away by scoring nine of the next 12 points to take a 71-62 advantage with 12 ticks left on the clock, prior to a Paniagua three-pointer for UMB with 1.5 seconds left.

              UMB will be in action again on Thursday when it travels to Bridgewater State College for a non-conference encounter (7:30 p.m.), while the Panthers host Little East foe University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on Saturday (3:00 p.m.)

(Courtesy of UMass Boston Sports Information)

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