WILLIMANTIC, Conn. (AP) – Antwoine Key was coming into his own this season.

The senior guard for Eastern Connecticut had one career game in the bag and seemed well on his way to another Thursday night at Worcester State. He had five of the Warriors first seven points in the opening minutes and was jogging up the court when he collapsed.

Both the men and women have canceled their home games today against the University of Southern Maine. No makeup date has been set.

Efforts to revive him were in vain.

The 22-year-old team leader and popular student died a short time later at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass.

On Friday, the close-knit campus struggled to cope with a heartbreaking void.

Grief counselors were on hand and the athletic staff, preparing for the start of classes Monday, wept at times as they tried to get through the day.

“He was probably one of the best student-athletes I’ve ever met in terms of personality and work ethic,” Athletic Director Joyce Wong said Friday. “When something like this happens it causes us to remember that we’re all in this together and we need to support one another.”

A sports and leisure management major, the lanky kid with an ever-present grin was a fixture in the halls of the ECSU Sports Center, where he had part-time job with the department.

“He enjoyed what he was doing. He was happy,” Wong said. “He never complained.”

An autopsy was to be performed late Friday or early Saturday to determine cause of death. School officials said Key passed his preseason physical.

Key played his high school ball at West Roxbury (Mass.) High and was a two-time all-state player. A transfer from Southern Connecticut, Key played mostly a reserve role for the Division III Warriors last year. But this year, the 6-foot-4 guard from Stoughton, Mass., began to blossom on the court. He started all 14 games and last Saturday, scored a career-high 19 points in a win over Massachusetts-Boston. He was improving with each game, coach Bill Geitner said.

“He was unbelievable,” Geitner said. “He had back-to-back-to-back best games of his career and their was all indications in the first four minutes and 16 seconds of the last night that it was going to be an unbelievable night for him.”

Those final numbers are ingrained in Geitner – 15:44, 9-7 and Eastern trailed by a bucket. The Warriors getting back on offense when Key was stricken.

“I just assumed he had tripped and that he was going to get up and look at me and flash me that Antwoine smile and laugh at himself,” Geitner said.

Instead, Geitner and the rest of the team watched in horror as paramedics worked on the stricken Key. It became clear quickly that the situation was serious and the game was suspended. Geitner accompanied Key to the hospital.

“Our kids were mess,” he said. “We have a lot of young kids. They look up to him because he’s just an outgoing fun-loving kid.”

Keys parents were not at the game, but made the hour drive to the hospital. His teammates learned of his death when they returned to campus and met with the school chaplain, the Rev. Larry LaPointe. The ECSU women’s team had a home game Thursday night and LaPointe broke the news to them after their 72-63 win over Coast Guard.

“They took it hard,” women’s coach Denise Bierly said. “That game doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot now.”

Bierly said the teams are very close. Some of her players date members of the men’s team. The teams usually travel together, but on Thursday, the men were playing a makeup game. The night before, both teams attended a pasta party thrown by LaPointe. They didn’t know it would be their last opportunity to socialize with Key.

“If you ever met Antwoine you were just drawn to him,” Geitner said. “You knew he was going to be a benefit to our program just because of the type of kid he was. We lost someone we loved. I knew him for two years and I’m a better person for it.”

“How we’re going to get through this is we’re going to do it together and know that Antwoine would want us to carry on,” Geitner said. “There will be many tears shed to get to that point but we can’t give up or we’re doing a disservice to him and what he represented.”

AP-ES-01-21-05 1829EST