KEENE, N.H. – It may not have always been pretty or a masterpiece, but the Keene State College men's basketball team – as they have done all year – got the job done and are again on top of the Little East conference, this time in undefeated and school record-breaking fashion.  Many times, the fifth-ranked and high-flying Owls have flexed their offensive muscles and used their quickness to overpower opponents, as evidenced by one of the nation's best marks in scoring margin.  However, they also take pride in being able to win in different ways, and that is just what they did on Little East Conference championship Saturday – instead demonstrating their grit and toughness at a jammed Spaulding Gymnasium.  Despite shooting their lowest percentage from the field this season and falling into a seven-point halftime deficit, the Owls held up their end of the bargain on the defensive end of the floor and warmed up their offense late, coming from behind to down Western Connecticut State University 83-79 for their second consecutive league championship, fifth in the last nine seasons, and sixth overall.

Records

• No. 5 Keene State:  26-1
• Western Connecticut:  22-5

Postgame Interview (Ryan Cain)
Postgame Interview (Jeff Hunter)
Highlights
Full Game Archive

How It Happened
It was not a shock to see the conference's top two seeds for the entirety of the regular season in the championship after they cruised to semifinal victories on Thursday night, and in a game that featured 10 ties and 15 lead changes, it was the Owls who made all the key plays late in overtime to send the capacity crowd home happy after seeing KSC win the conference title on their home court for the third time – joining the 2003-2004 and 2018-2019 teams to do so – and set a new program record for wins with 26, surpassing the 25 victories of the 03-04 and 2006-2007 teams.  Each of those teams, one being inducted into the Keene State Athletic and Alumni Hall of Fame last year, made an NCAA tournament run – one to the Sweet 16 and one to the Elite Eight.  That will be the next stop for the Owls this year, with the bracket to be revealed on Monday (February 27) at 1:00 p.m. on ncaa.com.

Back on January 7, Keene State – who had mostly been unchallenged in their opening 12 victories – was sternly tested by WestConn, also needing overtime to prevail that day when they shot only 34 percent from the floor and 12-for-44 from three-point range.  Spencer Aronson sizzled late and was a main reason why the Owls rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final four minutes and an eight-point deficit with 2:04 remaining in regulation before never trailing in the extra session.  KSC also held the Wolves to just 36 percent shooting (24-for-67) overall and 1-of-11 from three-point range that day.  The regular season's second matchup between the two teams was far different, as KSC torched WCSU four weeks later, turning a five-point halftime lead to 12 in 67 minutes in an eventual 92-76 victory where they made 15 threes and got a combined 46 points from Jeff Hunter and Aronson.  Saturday was far more like the first matchup than the second, with the Owl offense waking up late after shooting less than 30 percent for the vast majority of the opening 30-plus minutes.  The Owls started strong, going on a 10-0 run in less than three minutes after Kendall Robinson's opening basket to open a 10-2 lead at the 16:25 mark.  They were relentlessly attacking the basket in that span, with Nate Siow driving to the rim three times in that span.  However, the KSC offense bogged down in a big way after that as they went over seven minutes without a field goal, getting only three Mike Carothers free throws after he was fouled shooting a trey in that span.  WestConn took their first lead at 14-13 at the 10:11 mark before Tahmeen Dupree swished a three on the other end to snap KSC's drought.  Mason Jean Baptiste put KSC in front 19-18 with his own trey with 7:33 left in the half, but the rest of the period mostly belonged to the Wolves and Robinson, who went on a 15-7 burst to take a 33-26 lead with a minute to go.  It was 35-28 at halftime, the Owls' largest deficit all season at the break.

The impressive Robinson scored on WestConn's first possession of the second half to give them a game-high nine-point advantage, but the Owls chipped away from there, scoring five straight in less than a minute to draw within 37-33 at the 17:06 mark, but the Wolves came up with answers to stay in front for quite a while, including Jaheim Young's paint layup that made it 41-35 at the 13:58 mark.  He and Ryan Alkins each scored inside later to keep it a four-point edge, but the Owls scored six of then next seven points to take their first lead of the half when Siow turned a WCSU miscue into a layup on the other end.  It was anybody's game from there, with neither team leading by more than one possession at any point in the final 9:04 of regulation.  KSC went up 55-53 on a Hunter flush at the 6:55 mark, but the Wolves scored the next four over the next minute for their own two-point lead.  Octavio Brito, who had a struggled in a scoreless first half, put the Owls up two (59-57) with a bucket at the 3:44 mark, but back came Western with five straight for a three-point lead, capped off by an incredible step back three-pointer by Robinson after he bobbled the ball, regathered, and drained it with Jean Baptiste on him.  The senior Bellport, N.Y. native made two free throws with 1:47 left for a 64-61 WestConn lead, but Siow split a pair of free throws and then Brito grabbed a gigantic offensive rebound off a free throw miss from Hunter (there is more where that came from later) and banked in turnaround shot over Robinson for a 64-64 tie with 39.9 seconds to go.  WestConn called a timeout, and had two chances to regain the lead thanks to an offensive rebound, but Robinson passed out of a double team to Jaheim Young in a tough spot by the baseline and he dribbled the ball out of bounds while being walled by Hunter, giving KSC a championship-winning opportunity with nine seconds to go.  Looking for more magic after last year's Siow-to-Hunter alley oop won a title at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in overtime, Brito had his deep three blocked in the final seconds to send this year's game to an extra session also.

In the end, it had the same outcome as last year's.  Brito started with a jumper 21 seconds in to give the Owls the lead, but as he did all day, Robinson answered with a tough three-point jumper to give his team a one-point edge with 4:06 to go.  Hunter and Robinson then traded 1-for-2 efforts at the foul line before fifth-year senior Jeric Cichon hit one of the bigger shots of the day, a triple with 2:56 left that put KSC in front – ultimately for good – at 70-68.  Siow then forced a turnover on Ryan Alkins and it eventually led, after an offensive rebound, to Brito sinking a pair from the charity stripe for a four-point lead.  Robinson's three-point play with 2:20 to go prevented Western from having to get into desperation mode, as they were right back within one, and got the ball back after an Owl miss with a chance to take the lead.  However, Alkins missed a three and Jordon Brown could not finish inside.  Dupree when drew a foul driving to the basket and sank both from the line for a 74-71 edge with 1:23 left.  Robinson missed on the other end thanks to strong defense from Dupree, and Siow made it a five-point lead with 54.9 left after he blew past two defenders for a layup.  The building could sense a win at this point, and after Keeshawn Jones missed, Siow was fouled with 31 seconds to go and sank both from the line to make it 78-71.  Occasionally a struggle from the charity stripe, the Owls made six consecutive free throws down the stretch to help ice the win.  WestConn kept it interesting by making a pair of threes down the stretch, including one from Alkins that made it 82-79 with six seconds left.  They even got a pair of misses from Jean Baptiste at the foul line, but Cichon jumped and tipped the ball away from Robinson for a huge offensive board – one of well over 20 for KSC on the day in a game that featured 46 between the two teams.  The Owl senior then capped off what people hope will not be his final game at Spaulding Gymnasium by making the second of two free throws to lock up another KSC championship in their 15th title game appearance since 1997-1998, by far the most in the league.

Hunter's 22nd double-double consisted of 14 points, a monster 25 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks.  Siow finished with 19 points (7-17 FG, 5-6 FT) and three rebounds, while Dupree was 2-for-4 from three and 5-for-5 at the line to score 11.

Robinson, a senior, finished with 29 points (9-19 FG, 5-11 FG, 6-7 FT), eight rebounds, and six blocks for WestConn.  Alkins added 15 points on 7-for-17 shooting and eight rebounds, but the Wolves were limited to 39 percent shooting from the floor and were outscored 19-4 off turnovers.

"So many emotions run through (your head) when playing in a game like that," said Hunter.  "Hats off to WestConn, I have the utmost respect for them, but there is no quit in our team.  We were down seven at halftime and went into the locker room and talked over what we thought we had to do...we had to rebound more, play together.  It was not the skill that was messing us up, it was the effort and staying together.  This group is so amazing and I love practicing and playing with them every single day and nobody deserves it more than this group of guys."

Cain echoed that sentiment, saying "I thought we responded to some adversity like a champion today, and we are going to need our best every single day moving forward."

Inside the Paint

• Hunter joins Alphonse Michalski, Tom Doyle, Nate Stitchell, Ty Nichols, and James Anozie as Owls to win the LEC tournament Most Outstanding Player award.  His 22 double-doubles are tied for the national lead.
• Dupree is 9-for-17 from three and 15-for-18 from the foul line while shooting 49 percent in 17 games (14.5 mpg) since joining the team midway through the season.
• KSC improved to 78-19 at Spaulding Gymnasium under the coaching tenure of Ryan Cain, who has won four Little East tournament titles and two straight for the first time.  It is not the first time going back-to-back for the Owls, with Cain completing the second half of the first occurrence in 2016 after Rob Colbert and his team won a title in 2015.  KSC has won the title three times on their home court (2004, 2019, 2023).
• The Owls are 6-2 all-time against WestConn in the postseason and 39-19 overall including a 3-0 mark this year.

Up Next

• The receiver of the Little East Conference's automatic bid, Keene State finds out who, where, and when they will face in the NCAA tournament when the bracket is announced on the selection show on Monday, February 27 at 1:00 p.m.  It can be viewed on ncaa.com.  Stay tuned to keeneowls.com for updates.
• WestConn's season is over.  They had been in the regional rankings every week before last week and occasionally receiving votes in the d3hoops.com Top 25 poll over the course of the season, but a pair of losses to close the regular season last week against the University of Southern Maine and Eastern Connecticut State University dented their chances in a big way.  They were aiming for their seventh title in their ninth appearance and second under head coach Guy Rancourt, who won the tournament at home over UMass-Dartmouth in 2020.