Scranton, Pa. - Keystone College men's basketball team moved to within a game of the sixth and final Colonial States Athletic Conference playoff position with a hard-fought, 72-65 victory at Marywood University on Wednesday night. The Giants snapped a three-game losing skid to improve to 4-13 on the season and 4-6 in conference play while dropping the Pacers to 5-12 overall and 1-9 in the CSAC.

Keystone jumped out of the gate with the first eight points of Wednesday evening's contest before Marywood put together a 16-6 run to claim a two-point lead at the 11:05 mark of the first half. The Pacers extended their advantage to 24-17 before the Giants countered with 10-straight points, taking the lead on a James Cooper (Freehold, NJ/Pius X) three-pointer before Devin Williams (Monticello, NY/Monticello) scored on a layup to give the visitors a 27-24 edge with just under five minutes left on the clock.

Keystone, who led by as many as nine points in the closing minutes of the opening stanza, took a 40-33 lead into the locker room at halftime after Tyree Jones (Harlem, NY/Holcombe L. Rucker) connected on a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Deion Monroe (Kingston, NY/Kingston ) paced the Giants with 11 points and three assists in the first half while Williams added nine points and a team-best five rebounds. Jones contributed eight points and four assists for Keystone, who shot 56 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play while going 5-11 from three-point range and 7-9 from the free throw line.

Shane Letthand and James Curley had 11 points apiece to lead Marywood in the first half while Cory Callejas tallied seven points for the Pacers, who connected on 40.6 percent of their attempts from the floor in the frame including a 7-19 clip from beyond the arc.

Marywood whittled their deficit to a single point just over two and a half minutes into the second half before Keystone used a 9-0 spurt to open up a 51-41 advantage with 13:59 remaining in regulation when ShaShawn Drayton (Monticello, NY/Monticello) scored on a layup. The Giants kept the Pacers at bay and opened up their biggest lead of the night, 68-56, when Jones hit the front end of a pair of free throws and the hosts would come no closer than within eight points the rest of the way.

Monroe finished with a team-leading 15 points to go along with three steals to lead a trio of Giants in double-figures. Williams finished with 13 points and eight rebounds while Jones netted 12 points to pair with a team-best six assists. Drayton led all players with 10 rebounds while chipping in nine points and two blocked shots, Tyreek Peeples (Philadelphia, PA/Girard College) added nine points and three steals while Cooper finished with eight points.

Keystone shot a season-high 52.1 percent from the field in the win and went 9-18 from downtown, with the 50 percent showing also marking a new season-best. The Giants also connected on 52 percent of their attempts from the line.

Marywood's Curley led all scorers with 21 points, Letthand had 20 points and a game-high seven helpers, while Callejas and Connor Shroyer netted 10 points apiece in the loss. Shroyer pulled down a team-high seven boards for the Pacers, who hit on 34.4 percent of their attempts from the floor on the night while going 31.4 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent from the stripe.

Keystone will look to deal conference-leading Gwynedd Mercy University (12-5, 10-0 CSAC) their first loss in league play this year on Saturday when they host the Griffins in a league game starting at 1:00 p.m. in the Gambal Athletic Center.