KSC Shoots 54 Percent From Field Overall, An Astounding 73 Percent in Second Half to Advance

SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The trend in the 2021-2022 Keene State College men's basketball season has been that when freshman and recently-named Little East Conference Rookie of the Year Octavio Brito plays well, so often do the Owls.  That fact remained true on Friday night in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament as the impressive Lincoln, R.I. product scored a team-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting (4-6 3-PT) while junior Jeff Hunter added 22 points and 10 rebounds for another double-double as KSC, behind a sizzling shooting performance, eliminated host and 20th-ranked Swarthmore College 84-83 in the first round of the return of "March Madness" at Tarble Pavilion on Friday night. 

Records

• Keene State:  21-6
• No. 20 Swarthmore:  22-6

Postgame Press Conference

How It Happened
By lighting up a program that had been ranked No. 8 in the d3hoops.com preseason Top 25 poll and had reached the Elite Eight, National Championship game, and Sweet 16 (twice) in four consecutive seasons before last year's was cancelled, the Owls move on to the second round for the fifth time in their seven national tournament appearances, and will take on the State University of New York at Oswego, who eliminated Hood College 82-73, tomorrow night at 5:35 p.m.  Keene State will be playing for a fifth trip to the Sweet 16, last reaching that round in 2017 (when they made it to the Elite Eight).  Friday night, the Owls dialed up their best shooting performance since January 28 and fifth-highest overall, finishing at 53.6 percent (30-56) from the floor as Brito and Hunter combined to go 17-of-31, and six of seven KSC players who scored made more than half of the shots they took from the field.  The Owls shot 41 percent in the opening half, clawing back to take a one-point lead at the break as they forced nine turnovers defensively, but then heated up to the tune of a remarkable 16-of-22 (73 percent) from the floor in the second half, routinely slicing and dicing Swarthmore's defense that allowed their second-highest opponent field goal percentage in a game this season.

The Garnet trailed 37-36 at halftime before matching a game-high five point lead (55-50) eight minutes into the second half, but after trailing 57-52 with 11:09 to go, the Owls rolled the hosts 21-8 over the next seven minutes to go up eight with 4:05 to go, capped by buckets from Nate Siow and Hunter.  Remarkably, that became the first time in the game that either side led by more than five points, and it came 35:55 in.  Unafraid to take (and make) big shots, Brito buried a huge triple, arguably the biggest shot of the night, with 2:19 remaining to put the Owls up nine, and KSC held on from there, making enough free throws down the stretch.  Swarthmore had the ball with a chance to tie down 83-80 with 16 seconds left, but Brito stole the ball from Caprise on a broken possession that had previously resulted in a wild, alterted possible shot (or pass) by George Visconti, and Mason Jean Baptiste gave KSC a two-possession lead by going 1-of-2 at the line.  Vinny DeAngelo banked in a three with 1.2 seconds to go to make it a one-point game, but after a Garnet timeout, Jeric Cichon heaved the ball down the court, which was batted away by Swarthmore and enough to run out the time on just the hosts' fourth loss in 15 all-time NCAA tournament games.  Meanwhile, the Owls are now 10-6 in the "Big Dance" and have reached the second round in 2004, 2007, 2016, 2017, and 2022, and will play for another Sweet 16 ticket tomorrow night.

After going 7-for-19 at the free throw line in their Little East Conference championship game victory, KSC shot 18-for-25 from the stripe on this night, including 12-of-19 in the second half.  That mark proved to just enough to stave off Swarthmore, who had just only chance to tie in the final seven minutes and turned the ball over - one of only five in the second half - thanks to the Owls' pestering defense.  The Owls had also made just 8-of-32 from three-point range in their impressive road victories over Eastern Connecticut State University and 24th-ranked University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the LEC tournament, but heated up to 6-for-13 from deep tonight, 3-of-4 in the second half.  Keene State is 10-3 when shooting 36 percent or better from long range in a game this season, with that number being barely above their 35 percent team mark.  The Owls also focused on running Swarthmore, who was 16-1 when making at least 33 percent behind the arc, off the three-point line and did so successfully, holding them to 5-for-17 (3-of-11 in the second half).

Inside the Paint

• The Owls have two consecutive true road wins over nationally-ranked teams this season, and are now 4-3 in true road games in the NCAA tournament.  KSC also now has five wins over Top 25 teams in their seven March Madness appearances.
• Keene State head coach Ryan Cain has now made at least the second round in three of his four trips to the national tournament as the leader of the Owls.
• It was the first-ever meeting between the programs.  The Garnet had won seven of their last eight NCAA tournament games with the lone loss coming in the 2019 national championship game.
• Nine of the 10 Owls who saw action in the game were making their NCAA tournament debuts.

 Up Next

• As mentioned, KSC will tangle with Oswego (26-2), ranked No. 17 in the d3hoops.com Top 25 poll, tomorrow night (Saturday, March 5) at 5:35 p.m. with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.  The Owls will be hoping for their fifth trip and the Lakers their third (all since 2016).
• Swarthmore's season is over with their first-ever NCAA first round loss in five tries.