La Plume, PA (2-24-10) - Keystone College maintained control of their conference semi-final with Neumann University for nearly 38 minutes, however an 11-0 run by the Knights helped Neumann overcome a 13-point deficit, as the Knights squeaked by Keystone 69-65 to advance to the CSAC championship game on Friday night.

Neumann advances to play top seed Cabrini who defeated Immaculata, 89-68.

The victory for Neumann improves their mark to 16-11 overall, while the Giants finished the season at 18-8.  This marked the second consecutive year that the Giants lost in the conference semi-final.

Kenneth Hardnett (Plant City, FL/Plant City) paced the Giants with a game high 23 points and nine rebounds.  Ryne Luce (Cohoes, NY/Cohoes) added 14 and Spencer Lunger (Lake Winola, PA/Tunkhannock) 11, as the sharp shooting pair closed out their collegiate careers.

Tercel Taylor (Jackson, MI/Jackson), who finished with seven points, became the third Keystone player this season to hit the 1,000 point plateau, as he joined Luce and Lunger who achieved the mark earlier this season.  Taylor also finished with nine rebounds.

Mark Musumeci (Fulton, NY/G. Ray Bodley) added seven rebounds, while Malcolm Boone (Sugar Loaf, NY/Warwick) recorded a game high five blocks.

Marquise Boggs led four Knights in double figures with a 14-point night.  Na'Sheed Linton and Ty Robinson each netted a dozen, while Patrick O'Conner added 11.

Keystone broke out on top early building a 6-0 lead before the Knights knotted things at six.  The Giants, who led for the first 37:23 of the contest, strung together a pair of impressive runs in the first half eventually building a 13-point lead before taking a 35-25 advantage into the locker room.

Trailing by 11, the Knights put together a 10-2 run to draw within 40-37 with 15:46 left to play.  However, Keystone responded with a run of their own, building the advantage back to double figures at 53-41 with just under ten minutes to play.

Neumann showed that they would not go quietly, as the Knights used an 11-0 streak to climb within one, 53-52, with seven minutes to play.

The teams traded baskets for the next four plus minutes, until Mike Walukiewicz gave the Knights their first lead, a lead they would not surrender.  Walukiewicz, who was fouled while attempting a three-pointer with 2:37 left to play, converted all three free throws to give the Knights a 64-62 lead.

Neumann would build a lead as large as six in the closing minute.

The Knights performance from the charity stripe was a key component in their comeback.  After going just 2-2 from the line in the opening half, Neumann made 23 trips to the stripe in the second half, converting 19 times.  The Knights capped off the night shooting an impressive 84% from the line, while the Giants converted 71.4% (10-14) of their attempts.  

Keystone had taken their two regular season meetings with Neumann, winning by three on January 11 in Aston and by 30 at home on January 30.  


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