Owls Build 30-Point Lead 13 Minutes In, Make 17 Threes to Pummel Anchormen

KEENE, N.H. – Jeff Hunter won the tip-off back to Nate Siow, who then dribbled up the court and used a Mason Jean Baptiste screen to glide to the basket for a layup 10 seconds in – and that was just the very, very beginning for the Keene State College men's basketball team, who built a 30-point lead in less than 13 minutes to start the game and went on to bludgeon Little East Conference opponent Rhode Island College 98-60 Saturday afternoon at Spaulding Gymnasium.  The Owls will enter a 20-day holiday break at 10-0, extending their best start to a season in program history with another comprehensive victory.

Records

• Keene State:  10-0, 3-0 LEC
• Rhode Island College:  4-7, 2-1 LEC

Postgame Interview (Coach Cain)
Postgame Interview (Jeff Hunter)

How It Happened
Much like Wednesday night when KSC built a 54-26 halftime edge and led by as many as 29 in the opening 20 minutes in an eventual 30-point victory over Plymouth State University, the Owls quickly asserted their dominance – perhaps even more quickly – in a semester-closing conference victory that moved them to 3-0 in Little East play.  Keene State made 18 threes in the victory over Plymouth, and on this day followed it up with a 17-trey performance against RIC, drilling 11-of-18 (61 percent) in a runaway first half.  KSC led 57-29 at the break, with Octavio Brito and Hunter combing for 29 points on 12-of-19 shooting themselves to match Rhode Island College's team total.  Jean Baptiste and Hunter each drilled a three on consecutive offensive trips for the Owls as the home team's lead already reached double-figures at 13-2 at the 16:47 mark.  Less than three minutes later, after a 7-0 run that took 52 seconds (and an overall surge that reached 18 consecutive points), the advantage was 22-2.  With 11:56 left in the half after Spencer Aronson connected from distance connected on his first of four triples of the day, KSC was ahead 32-9.  Their lead never dropped below 20 the rest of the day, or even came close to doing so.  In fact, after a make on back-to-back possessions for RIC that made it 39-15 at the 8:12 mark, the Owls got consecutive triples from Brito sandwiched around a Hunter block of Ousmane Kourouma to take a 45-15 lead with 7:23 left until halftime.  A layup from Hunter and yet one more trey from Brito a few minutes later saw the gap balloon to 50-17.  Brito's fourth three on six attempts in an 18-point individual half came at the 1:59 mark and kept the Owls in front 55-24.  KSC had shot 50 percent (10-of-20) in the opening half of the PSU game Wednesday, and actually bettered that mark this time around, torching the nets at a 61 percent clip from deep.  They are 21-of-38 from beyond the arc in their last two first halves, outscoring their opponents by a combined 56 points.

Rhode Island College never had a sniff in the second half, with a Brito bucket and free throw after he was fouled on the jumper making it 60-29 and getting his team off to the right start out of the locker room.  Hunter had his own old-fashioned three-point play with 15:01 left to put KSC up 36 (69-33), and Brito tacked on one more triple for good measure less than a minute later to make it 72-33.  The Owls were again able to get most all of their roster playing time in the second half, with 17 different players seeing at least four minutes of action.  KSC was still able to limit RIC to just 35 percent shooting (12-of-34) and 1-of-7 from three while forcing seven turnovers.  The Anchormen only turned the ball over 13 times in the game, but beyond their offense being stymied, saw the country's No. 2 rebounder completely nullified on the glass as he finished with a season-low tying seven boards while seeing his counterpart Jeff Hunter grab 20 in his double-double.  It was the Owls' third-largest win in series history over Rhode Island College and the Anchormen's most lopsided Division III loss since January of 2018 when they lost at Amherst College by 39 points (75-36).  KSC led by as many as 47 after a Patrick Freeman jumper with 7:09 to go, and then matched that advantage about three minutes later when Sean Cullen drove to the basket for a layup.

Brito finished with 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting (5-of-7 from three), four rebounds, and two assists while Hunter had 16 points (7-13 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 1-1 FT), 20 rebounds, four assists, and blocks.  Aronson (16 pts., 6-8 FG, 4-6 3-PT) and Jean Baptiste (14 points, 5-11 FG, 4-8 3-PT) rounded out the four double-figure scorers on the afternoon for KSC.

Devon Jenkins came off the bench to lead Rhode Island College with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting and three rebounds.  Destine Haywood-Gomes had nine points in eight second half minutes.

Inside the Paint

• The Owls have shot 39 percent (125-for-316) from three-point range in the season's opening 10 games.  Brito is at 40-for-78 (51 percent) alone while Aronson is 27-for-61 (44 percent).  Brito has made 21 triples over the last four games.  Keene State as a team in the last two contests has made 35, with Jean Baptiste shooting 10-for-18 and being an early catalyst to a pair of blowouts.
• KSC has won seven straight over the Anchormen and leads the all-time series 34-27.  Five of the last six Owl wins have been by at least 15 points, with four being decided by 20 or more.  KSC's 75-57 win in the 2015 Little East tournament championship game kicked off a stretch of what now stands at 16-2 in favor of the Owls over the last 18 games between the teams.
• Keene State has five wins by at least 22 points on the season.

Up Next

• A well-earned holiday celebration is next for the Owls, who are back in action on Friday, December 30 at 6:00 p.m. when they host Emerson College (5-3).  The Lions' three losses are by a combined 10 points, with one coming in overtime.  Emerson plays at the Steve Moore Sunshine Shootout December 19-20 in Winter Park, Fla. prior to the matchup with KSC.
• Rhode Island College, who had entered with back-to-back LEC wins over the University of Southern Maine and Castleton University after dropped six of eight to start the season, visits LEC foe University of Massachusetts-Boston (6-3, 1-1 LEC) next Saturday, December 17 at 3:00 p.m.

The Keene State College athletic department would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season!