KEENE, N.H. – It may not have been as high-flying of an offensive showing as their 67 percent shooting performance in Saturday's 117-point effort, but it was more than enough to post another blowout victory.  This time, behind a defensive effort that limited Eastern Connecticut State University to a 9-for-34 showing (26 percent) from the field in the first half, the No. 13 nationally-ranked Keene State College men's basketball team built a lead as high as 19 in the opening 20 minutes and coasted to an eventual 85-60 drubbing of the Warriors in Little East Conference action at Spaulding Gymnasium Tuesday night.

Records

• No. 13 Keene State:  11-2, 5-0 LEC
• Eastern Connecticut:  3-11, 0-5 LEC

Postgame Interview (Coach Hastings)
Sullivan Tire Player of the Game Interview (Octavio Brito)

How It Happened
KSC shot only 38 percent overall and 6-of-18 from long range in the opening 20 minutes, but scored eight consecutive points over a two minute span to turn a four-point lead into a 28-16 advantage and never looked back, running away to a win in which Octavio Brito only had to play five second half minutes and Jeff Hunter eight ahead of a key matchup at Western Connecticut State University on Thursday.  The game-breaking run crested at 16-2, with Brito and Spencer Aronson each draining a three within a minute of each other to make it 36-18 with 2:28 left in the opening half.  Mason Jean Baptiste made one of his own on KSC's next trip to make it 39-20, and the Owls carried a 41-24 edge into the break.

The game was never close in the second half, as Hunter and Nate Siow waltzed to the rim for layups in the opening 33 seconds of the half to make it 45-24, and Keene State took a 22-point lead on another Jean Baptiste triple at the 18:53 mark.  A Brito jumper on the ensuing possession made it 50-26, and his layup with 15:29 to go made it 55-32 – and his work proved to be done for the evening.  Hunter pushed the gap to 57-42 with a layup of his own at the 14:28 mark, and he was subbed out at the under-12 media timeout of the second half with a 26-point lead following a Wesley Odiase bucket, who continued to break out in his rookie season, scoring in double digits for the third consecutive game on 16-for-25 (64 percent) shooting while displaying an ability to finish around the basket.  Tonight, he finished with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting and made a season-best seven free throws on eight attempts (he entered 6-for-9 total) while also grabbing six rebounds.

Various lineup combinations as the second half progressed did not slow the KSC offense, and the Owls had no trouble polishing off another conference victory.  In fact, the Owls shot 52 percent (16-for-31) over the final 20 minutes.  Odiase had 15 of their 44 points and five of their 19 rebounds in the half.  Keene State led by as many as 30 (76-46) following a trey from Aronson with 5:34 to go.

Brito finished with another efficient game, totaling 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting (2-6 3-PT, 2-2 FT).  He added four rebounds.  Hunter still had a double-double, adding 12 points (5-7 FG, 2-3 FT) and 13 rebounds (six offensive).  Aronson and Jean Baptiste combined to shoot 6-for-13 from beyond the arc and scored nine points apiece, with Jean Baptiste adding four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.  Four Owls had multiple assists, paced by four from Tahmeen Dupree, and KSC piled up 17 steals (seven people with two) while forcing 23 Warrior turnovers.

Cedrick Similien paced Eastern Connecticut with 10 points (4-6 FG, 2-3 3-PT) off the bench, eight of which came in the first half as the visitors briefly hung around despite 25 percent shooting, making four of their first eight threes while KSC started 0-for-6 from deep and was shooting 35 percent themselves.  The Owls would make six of their next 10 tries from three and shoot nearly 50 percent over the final eight minutes of the first half to close on a 24-10 run.  They wound up shooting 25-for-52 (48 percent) over the final 27:56 of game action and made 9-of-22 from three while ECSU was at 38 percent in that same time frame, made 3-of-14 from deep, and committed 17 turnovers.

Ty Calloway (3-11 FG), Julian Sanchez (4-10 FG), and Dan Wellington (3-8 FG) each had nine points for the Warriors and Dominick Dao seven rebounds and six points (3-8 FG).

Inside the Paint

• The Owls dominated the paint 42-24 and outscored ECSU off turnovers 29-9.
• Jeff Hunter had a game-best plus-29 rating in his 24 minutes.
• KSC has won five straight in the series by a combined 108 points and seven of eight.

Up Next

• It is a 2023 LEC championship rematch on Thursday (January 11) when the Owls visit WestConn (13-2, 6-0 LEC) for a 5:00 p.m. tip-off.  KSC took all three meetings a year ago – both in Spaulding Gymnasium, including the championship, in overtime, and 92-76 on the road in Danbury that essentially helped the Owls lock up the No. 1 seed and regular season championship.  WCSU downed Rhode Island College (KSC's Saturday opponent) 78-66 tonight to keep their perfect league record in tact.
• Eastern Connecticut hosts Vermont State University Castleton (4-10, 0-5 LEC) on the same day (3:00 p.m.).  The Spartans have just three league wins since joining the conference, but have seen their last two losses come by a total of six points (73-72 at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 62-57 home vs. Plymouth State University tonight).