Panthers use balanced scoring to win 3rd-place game

             TROY, N.Y. – Five different players reached double digits in points Saturday afternoon as Plymouth State University defeated Lyndon State College, 83-69, in the third place game of the ECAV Men's Basketball Tip-Off Tournament on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).

              Freshman guard Alex Burt (Dover, N.H.) came off the bench to lead the Panthers with 16 points in 17 minutes.  Senior Tom Dowd (Portsmouth, N.H.) added 15, while senior Ryan Lambert (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton) and junior Brian Chergey (Bow, N.H.) both scored 13 points.  Senior Ian Dempsey (Andover, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points for Plymouth State, which made 31 of 66 shots from the field, including six three-pointers.  PSU improves to 2-1 overall, while Lyndon State is now 0-3.

              Dowd (right), who averaged 14.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two-day affair, was Plymouth State's representative on the All-Tournament Team.  He shot 52 percent from the field (13-of-25) and collected three assists and three steals.

              The game was a one-point affair with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half when the Panthers went on a 15-4 run for a 13-point lead (41-28) at halftime.  Dowd had 13 of his points in the first frame, while Chergey scored nine first half points.  Plymouth State never led by fewer than 10 points in the second half on its way to the victory.

              Dowd, who made 7 of his 10 shots, led the Panthers in rebounding with eight, including four offensive.  He also had two assists and two steals in 22 minutes.  Lambert added six rebounds with two assists, while Chergey had a team-best four assists.

              For Lyndon State, freshman Phil Warrick (Springfield, MA) led all scorers with 19 points, including 13 in the second half.  He also had four steals, two rebounds and an assist.  Sophomore Jason Gray (East Thetford, VT) added 18 points and eight rebounds and senior Mike Norcross (North Haverhill, NH) had a game-high 11 rebounds and five points.

              Plymouth State returns to the court on Tuesday night with a game at Castleton State (7:30pm).  Lyndon State plays on Monday against Springfield in the Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.  Tip-off is 4:00 p.m. 

(Courtesy of RPI Sports Information) 

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