NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Jeff Hunter, Octavio Brito, and Nate Siow combined to score 41 points on 19-for-26 shooting in the second half as the sixth-ranked Keene State College men's basketball team found their footing offensively for perhaps the first time since returning from the holidays, shooting 60 percent in the final 20 minutes while running away to a 100-72 thumping of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in Little East Conference action Wednesday night at the Tripp Athletic Center.

Records

• No. 6 Keene State:  12-0, 4-0 LEC
• UMass-Dartmouth:  3-8, 2-1 LEC

How It Happened
After using defense and rebounding to pull out a gritty win over Emerson College in their first post-holiday break game last Friday at Spaulding Gymnasium, the Owls still could not quite find their legs on offense in the first half of tonight's game, carrying a one-point lead into the break despite shooting just 33 percent and 2-of-11 from three-point range over the opening 20 minutes.  That changed in a big way after halftime, with KSC returning to their usual form seen this year, making 27-of-45 (60 percent) from the floor and 5-of-11 from long range in a 62-point final 20 minutes.  The surge overpowered the Corsairs in the first meeting between two NCAA tournament teams from a year ago who played in a classic Little East tournament title game on the very same floor last February, won by KSC on a Siow to Hunter alley-oop dunk in the final seconds.  It is a different-looking UMass-Dartmouth team this season after the graduation of All-American Marcus Azor, Jake Ashworth, and others, but the Corsairs still entered with a 2-0 league mark and had seen four of their seven losses entering the night come by eight points or less.  It seemed the game might have been headed toward a tight finish when Dhalyn Sanders-Dyer made a three on UMD's opening trip out of the locker room to give the home team a 40-38 lead and Isaac Percy made it a 42-40 game with 18 minutes left, but Keene State embarked on a 12-4 surge that featured two huge triples from Spencer Aronson on consecutive possessions to suddenly take a 52-44 lead with 15:51 to go.  Mike Eurquhart scored twice down low over the next minute and a half to keep his team within four for the moment, but the Owls then reeled off eight more in a row to go in front 60-48 – scoring on three consecutive possessions capped by a Brito steal and dunk – to take their largest lead of the night.  It only kept growing from there.  Ahead 60-50 at the 11:27 mark, the Owls' efficient offense scored on four straight trips in a 9-0 sprint that took only 1:15, with all of the points coming from Brito and Siow, as they took a commanding 19-point lead with 9:40 left.  UMass-Dartmouth was never closer than 16 after that, and eventually tumbled to their largest deficit of their season (29) in the final minute.  In addition to Hunter, Siow, and Brito, who missed only seven shots total in the second half and outscored the Corsairs on their own, Aronson added an important eight points of his own in that frame, helping KSC quickly gain separation.

"Credit to Dartmouth because they came out and played very physical and attacked us at the rim and on the glass (in the first half)," said Owls head coach Ryan Cain.  "In the second half we did a much better job on the glass and our defensive intensity was much better.  In addition, we played at our pace and made some shots we have not made since coming back from the break.  We are still getting our legs back and to have a nice bounce back half was great to see, and hopefully something we can build on."
Hunter finished with his ninth double-double, putting up a 26-point, 18-rebound stat line on 11-of-18 shooting.  Brito added 23 points (9-16 FG, 4-4 FT), eight rebounds, five assists, and five steals, while Siow finished with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting (1-2 3-PT, 1-1 FT).  Aronson had 11 points (3-7 3-PT) off the bench to round out the double-figure scorers for the Owls, who posted their largest win at the Tripp Athletic Center in program history, surpassing an 82-57 victory in the 2018-2019 season and a 90-64 decision in the 1998-1999 campaign.

Jackson Zancan paced UMass-Dartmouth with 15 points (6-11 FG, 2-2 3-PT, 1-1 FT) and three rebounds, while Eurquhart finished with a double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds.  Percy tossed in 14 points (5-11 FG) and five rebounds while Sanders-Dyer had 11 points and seven boards, but UMD allowed 100 points to an opponent for the first time since January of 2018.  Eurquhart had eight points and nine rebounds alone in a back-and-forth first half that saw seven ties, three lead changes, and KSC lead by six early before UMD took a five-point lead with 2:09 left until the break.  Brito, Mason Jean Baptiste, and Carothers then scored on three straight trips to erase that Corsair lead and provide a glimpse of what would ultimately come in the second half as the Owls' offense got back on track.  It seemed early the Owls had found something, with Jean Baptiste and Aronson connecting on triples back-to-back, but KSC was outscored 23-12 over the next 8:13 and made just 5-of-18 shots to go from up six to down five.

"Consistency is just getting our legs back under us and understanding that conference games are played with a different level of intensity and physicality," said Cain.  "We need to be prepared to play at that level for 40 minutes (moving forward).  We made better decisions tonight in shot or pass situations and then the ball finally started to go down for us in the second half."

Inside the Paint

• KSC's 62-point second half was their second-highest scoring period of the season behind putting up 63 in the final 20 minutes at Springfield College in a 113-75 victory on November 22.  The Owls finished at a 47 percent (41-for-87) clip from the field while UMD was held to 41 percent (29-for-71) including 12-for-32 (37.5 percent) in the final 20 minutes.
• The Owls outscored UMD 56-40 in the paint and 27-3 off turnovers.  Keene State finished with 18 assists to just eight turnovers (14-to-3 ratio in the second half) while compiling 15 steals themselves and forcing the home team into 18 miscues.
• Keene State is plus-58 in steals (134-76) this season.
• KSC leads the all-time series 34-28.

Up Next

• An important stretch in the middle part of the season continues on Saturday when the Owls welcome Western Connecticut State University (10-0, 2-0 LEC) to Spaulding Gymnasium for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off.  Tickets can be purchased at keeneowls.com/tickets.
• UMass-Dartmouth hosts the University of Southern Maine (8-5, 2-2 LEC) on the same day at 3:00 p.m.  The Corsairs, who are trying to get head coach Brian Baptiste his 700th career win, have won seven straight in the series.