WILLIMANTIC, Conn. –   Freshman guard AJ Edwards (New Haven) forced overtime with a three-point field goal in the final seconds and junior guard Thomas Close (East Hampton) won it with his only three-pointer of the game with two seconds left in overtime as the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team downed Little East Conference leader Keene State College, 85-83 Wednesday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
 
Third-seeded Eastern (5-3, 3-3 LEC), which finished the regular season perfect in five home games, visits second-seeded Keene State College (5-2, 5-2 LEC) in the semifinals of the LEC tournament Friday at 6 p.m. No. 4 Rhode Island College visits No. 1 seed Massachusetts Dartmouth in the other semifinal Friday at  6 p.m. The two winning teams will meet at the site of the highest remaining seed Sunday at 1 p.m. in the tournament title game. Keene defeated Eastern, 85-75, in the first regular-season meeting between the teams Feb. 10 at Keene, NH.
 
Eastern forced overtime Wednesday by erasing a five-point deficit in the final 1:32 when freshman guard Jaylin Palmer (East Hartford) completed a three-point play with a free throw to make it 79-77 and after Keene converted one of two free throws, Edwards tied it, 80-80, with a three-pointer.
 

In the closing seconds of overtime, Keene led by one (83-82) with 17 second left and had the ball following a steal by freshman guard Nate Siow, but the Owls missed a right-side jumper off a timeout with time winding down, and first-year sophomore Keene State transfer Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) grabbed his career-high 17th rebound. Lott got the ball to Edwards, who dribbled down the right side line and made one pass to an unmarked Close just outside the three-point line. Close caught the ball and shot in one motion, connecting with 2.3 seconds left for his first three-pointer of the game in six tries.  Keene's long desperation shot failed as time expired.
 
A minute earlier in overtime, Keene also had possession of the ball and nursing an 81-80 lead, but missed a corner three-point attempt, which was grabbed by Lott. Eastern nearly gave the ball back seconds later when Edwards tripped in the lane but the Warriors avoided a tie-up by calling a timeout. Woods then put Eastern up, 82-81, following the timeout with a pair of free throws with 1:14 left after being fouled on a right-side drive, the first freebie dropping through after drawing the front iron.  Siow then dropped in a spinning drive in the lane as Keene regained an 83-82 lead, and Siow seemed to ice the win on the other end when he stepped in the lane and stole a pass by Woods with 17 seconds left.
 
The two-point overtime win was Eastern's second in its last two home games and follows Saturday's 87-85 decision over UMass Dartmouth.
 
The game featured 20 ties and 16 lead changes, with neither team leading by more than seven. The Owls  led by seven early but Eastern scored seven straight late in the first half – four on free throws by senior guard Cory Muckle (Westbrook) and Close -- and junior forward Sharown Fowler's (Springfield, MA) inside bucket to make it 34-29 with five minutes left in the first half.

Fowler responded off the bench after missing four straight games with an injury with nine points and four rebounds in 19 minutes. Fowler, Edwards and junior guard Tyreice Woods (Hartford) all came off the bench to help the Warriors more than double Keene's point total (48-21) by non-starters. Edwards tied his career-high with a game-high 24 points. He was 7-for-12 from the floor (3-for-5 from distance) and perfect on seven free throw tries and added five rebounds. Woods had 15 points (4-for-4 from the stripe). In a starting role, Muckle had ten points and nine rebounds.
 
Lott added eight points to go along with his game-high17 rebounds. He was credited with eight of the team's final 12 rebounds – three in overtime -- over the final 11 minutes
 
One of three freshman starters, guard Mason Jean Baptiste led three double-figure scores for Keene with 21 points, seven rebounds and three steals in 44 minutes, while 6-foot-7 inch sophomore forward Jeff Hunter had 17 points and a team-high 12 rebounds and Siow 12 points, six steals and four assists.
 
As it did in the overtime home win over UMass Dartmouth, Eastern was on target at the foul line. The Warriors were 11-for-12 from the stripe in the first half and 16-for-18 in the game after going 24-for-30 against UMass Dartmouth The Owls were just 2-for-6 from the foul line in the final ten minutes of the game and finished 17-for-28.