KSC Ends Otherwise Program-Record, Stellar 28-Win Campaign With Season-Worst 29.9 Percent Shooting Effort in 82-58 Loss

SWARTHMORE, Pa. – One of the best seasons in Keene State College men's basketball program history – and a record-breaking one in several categories – came to a sudden end Friday night in the Sweet 16 sectional semifinals of the 2023 NCAA Division III tournament when the fifth-ranked Owls fell to host and No. 7-ranked Swarthmore College 82-58 at Tarble Pavilion.  KSC had beaten the Garnet on the same floor a year ago in the first round, but suffered a far different fate this time around, shooting a season-worst 29.9 percent including 25 percent after halftime, and 5-for-26 from three-point range.  Swarthmore connected at a much higher 53 percent rate, and because of it advanced to an Elite Eight matchup with Nichols College, who trailed in the second half before going on to pound Stockton University 86-68 in the earlier game.

Records

• No. 5 Keene State:  28-2
• No. 7 Swarthmore:  27-3

Postgame Press Conference (Keene State)

How It Happened
A year after shooting 54 percent overall including 73 percent in the second half as the Owls upset Swarthmore 84-83 in last year's first round, KSC's offense was missing and never found on this night, and because of it a season in which they set a new program record for wins will end with 28.  Keene State made 16 (of 22) shots in the second half last year to put away Swarthmore, who had reached the national championship game in the previous full season prior, but tonight made just 20 field goals total.

The teams exchanged leads early, with two layups from Jeff Hunter giving KSC two different one-point advantages.  A jumper and free throw for Mason Jean Baptiste at the 16:56 mark had the Owls in front 9-7, and buckets from Hunter and Tahmeen Dupree over the next three minutes helped KSC stay in front 13-12.  However, the Garnet then scored 14 consecutive points in 4:16 to sprint in front 26-13 – and the Owls were chasing big time the rest of the night, later falling into a 35-19 hole after fouling Vinny DeAngelo shooting at three at the 4:50 mark.  At that moment, KSC had scored just six points total in nearly nine minutes of game action.  Five points from Octavio Brito in the final 4:36 of the first half helped keep the Owls within shouting distance at 41-28, but they closed the opening 20 minutes shooting 11-for-32 (34 percent) from the floor and made just one three in eight tries.  They were also pummeled in the paint 28-14.  DeAngelo and Michael Caprise combined to score 29 of their team's 41 points (71 percent of the total), while KSC had nobody in double-figures and nobody with a positive plus/minus.  Brito had nine points (3-8 FG) and Hunter seven (3-5 FG).

The Owls knew all of those numbers would have to improve for them to have a chance to crawl back into the game in the second half, but instead their percentages grew even colder, as they shot just 9-for-35, their lowest shooting clip in a half in 30 games this season (they shot 25.9 percent against Western Connecticut State University in the second half on January 7 and lost the period by 15 points before recovering to win in overtime).  Tonight, Nate Siow made a pair of free throws 36 seconds into the second half to chop what had been a 17-point deficit at one point in the first half down to 11 (41-30), but that was as close as KSC got, following it up with two misses and a turnover on the ensuing three possessions as Swarthmore scored six straight to make it 47-30.  Jeric Cichon and Hunter scored five points in 30 seconds to get the lead back down to 12 with 16:27 left, but Colin Shaw and Caprise converted layups on the other end in 32 seconds.  Brito connected from three, his only one of the night, with 12:08 remaining to make it 57-43, but an 8-1 run from the Garnet in the next three minutes which turned into a 15-3 burst over the next six minutes spelled the end as the lead swelled over 20.  After Brito made the three, DeAngelo missed, but the Owls could not put any pressure on Swarthmore as they came up empty on six consecutive shots and 12 out of their next 13.  Meanwhile, the Garnet got five layups in that same span to remove any doubt about the outcome of the game.

Brito led Keene State with 14 points (5-12 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 3-5 FT) and three rebounds.  Hunter had 12 points (5-11 FG, 2-4 FT), six rebounds, two assists, and two blocks, while Nate Siow finished with 10 points (3-8 FG, 4-4 FT), three rebounds, two assists, and two steals, but the Owls overall had only six assists on 20 field goals.

Swarthmore put four in double-figures, paced by 23 points (8-12 FG, 2-3 3-PT, 5-6 FT) and four assists from DeAngelo.  Caprise (8-12 FG) had an 18 point, 11 rebound double-double and three assists, while George Visconti (15 pts., 5-9 FG, 1-1 3-PT, 4-4 FT) and Colin Shaw (11 pts., 5-9 FG, 1-2 3-PT) rounded out the double-figure scorers for the Centennial Conference champions, who won at then-No. 7 Johns Hopkins University in their league title game after losing by 10 to them in Baltimore previously.  Their only other losses came at Widener University (67-66) on November 16 and at Gettysburg College (78-65) on February 18.  Swarthmore improved to 17-0 on their home court, a place they have not lost since Keene State beat them last year.  Unfortunately for the Owls, they could not replicate that again. 

Inside the Paint

• Hunter, the Little East Conference Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, will finish the season with 24 double-doubles and is very likely to lead the country in that category.  He ends the season shooting 61 percent from the field and averaged a double-double (18.6 ppg, 13.7 ppg).  The Hudson, Mass. native will enter next season with 1,395 career points, good for 11th on the all-time Keene State men's basketball scoring list.
• Brito finishes 2022-2023 – his sophomore campaign – averaging 20.4 points per game while shooting 48 percent from the field and 44 percent from three-point range.
• KSC was ranked in all 13 in-season d3hoops.com Top 25 polls after being unranked in the preseason, peaking at No. 4 on January 9 and January 16.  They were No. 8 or higher for the final 12 weeks and six or higher for the final 11.
• Keene State is 12-8 all-time in 20 NCAA tournament games spanning eight appearances.
• The Owls shot 30.8 percent (32-for-104) from the field in their final three halves of the season, not too dissimilar from an ice cold 33 percent shooting clip in a season-ending loss to Oswego State last season, including 29 percent after halftime in that game.  This season, KSC shot 39.6 percent (125-for-316) in the season's first 10 games, but 31.5 percent (158-for-502) over the next 20.

Up Next

• Keene State's season is over.  They reached the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in program history (2004, 2007, 2016, 2017, 2023) and third since 2016 while hosting NCAA games at Spaulding Gymnasium for the first time since 2007.  The Owls graduate Cichon, Max Bonney-Liles, Tyler Dill, and Edwin Ezedonmwen, but otherwise expect to return everybody else in a season that will begin with high expectations as they look to build off a 28-2 season that – in their minds – may have ended too soon.  KSC has twice reached the Elite Eight, which they were bidding to do again tonight but instead were handed a third straight season-ending double-digit defeat.
• Swarthmore hosts Nichols (26-5) with a trip to the Final Four up for grabs tomorrow night (Saturday, March 11) at 7:15 p.m.  The Bison, including their won over Stockton tonight, have won 20 straight games since starting the season 6-5 with losses by 19, 11, 20, and 14 points in that span.  This will mark the Garnet's second Elite Eight game on their home court, having lost the first 74-62 to Springfield College in 2018.  Swarthmore is in the midst of their sixth NCAA tournament appearance – all since 2016-2017 after they had never qualified before and at one point had 18 consecutive losing seasons, 16 of which came before the tenure of head coach Landry Kosmalski.