(Game Box) 

              PLYMOUTH, N.H. - The Plymouth State University men's basketball team overcame a sub-par shooting performance Thursday evening to pull out a 63-60 non-conference victory over Lyndon State College in the annual Spirit Night game at Foley Gymnasium.

              The Panthers, who evened the season series with the Hornets, continued their pattern of alternating wins and losses, which they have done the past 10 games. PSU is now 9-11 overall, while the Hornets, which defeated Plymouth State 59-55 in Lyndonville back in December, drops to 6-10.

              Senior Ben Huntington (Hampstead, N.H.) led the Panthers with 15 points, despite connecting on just 5-of-14 shots from the field.  Junior Mike Chergey (Bow, N.H.) added 13 points and seven rebounds, and junior Bryan Tracy (Manchester, N.H./Central) contributed 11 points despite 2-of-10 shooting.

              Senior Cesar Martinez (East Harlem, N.Y.) led all scorers with 18 points for Lyndon State.  Classmate Brad Durr (Windham, Conn.) added 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and freshman Ben Sackett (Lyndonville, Vt.) chipped in with 13 points.

              Plymouth State never trailed in the first half, and pulled away to a double-digit lead (27-17) with six minutes remaining.  PSU upped the lead up to 12 points but the Hornets got the margin down to nine points at the break, 33-24.

              Lyndon State opened the second half with a 13-3 surge to take its first lead of the game, 37-36, with 13 minutes to play. After a series of lead changes, PSU got the lead back up to seven points (53-46) with eight minutes on the clock, but the Hornets responded with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 55-all with 2:21 remaining.

              The Panthers scored the next six points, two on a lay-up by Chergey and four on free throws by Tracy and sophomore Matt Feehan (Nashua, N.H.).  LSC was still within three points and had the ball with 11 seconds remaining, but could not sink the tying three-pointer in the final seconds.

              PSU shot just 33.9 percent for the game, while LSC connected at just a 37.7 clip.  The home team won the battle of the boards, 46-32.

              Plymouth State returns to Little East Conference action this Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. tip-off at home against co-leader Rhode Island College.  Lyndon State returns home to host Castleton State at 2:00 p.m. 

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