KEENE, N.H. – The night began very early with a celebration of Mason Jean Baptiste joining the Keene State College men's basketball 1,000 career point club with a three-point make less than three minutes in and ended – for a tenth consecutive time – with an Owl victory as nationally No. 7 ranked KSC crushed Vermont State University Castleton 93-59 in Little East Conference action Wednesday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• No. 7 Keene State:  18-2, 11-0 LEC
• Vermont State Castleton:  6-14, 2-9 LEC

Postgame Interview (Coach Hastings)...coming soon
Sullivan Tire Player of the Game Interview (Mason Jean Baptiste)...coming soon

How It Happened
Jean Baptiste came in needing just two points to become the 40th player in KSC program history to score 1,000 points and took care of it early, draining a wing three off a feed from a fellow member of the club (who scored his in this year's season opener also at home) Octavio Brito just 2:02 in to officially move his career total to 1,001.  The Owls called a timeout and his teammates rushed to greet him, two of which have joined the club when you include Jeff Hunter, as a congratulatory announcement was read.  The shot capped an opening 8-2 burst in barely over two minutes and, from there, it was nearly all KSC most of the night as the home team drained 15 threes, flashed a few dunks, and put six players in double-figures while also dominating the glass 43-25 (with 21 offensive rebounds).  Brito led the way with 18 points (7-15 FG, 3-8 3-PT), seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals but was followed closely by Spencer Aronson, who canned 5-of-9 from long range to score 15 points.  Alonzo Linton added 13 points (5-12 FG, 3-6 3-PT) and three boards, including a soaring flush at the 14:09 mark of the opening half that made it 19-8.  Castleton hung around to some extent, getting back within eight (30-22) after layups on consecutive possessions from Adam Bilodeau and Scott Lampron with 8:20 to go, but a triple from Nate Siow at the 5:45 mark pushed KSC's lead back to 14 again.  Linton sank one of his three opening half triples in the final minute to make it 41-27, but Joe Russell cut to the hoop for a bucket in the final seconds of the half to send his team to the locker room down 12.  He (five rebounds) and Lampron (12 pts., 5-8 FG) where the only reason Castleton stayed at least within shouting distance at the break, but the visitors were badly outshot from three, getting outscored 24-6 on threes in the first half and 45-12 overall.

Keene State's lead very briefly shrank to nine less than two minutes into the second half, but a dunk by Hunter kicked off a mini 6-0 push to put the Owls up 49-34 with 16:32 left, and they were on their way from there, going up 61-40 on one of Aronson's five treys.  Jean Baptiste connected from deep at the 7:55 mark to make it a 72-46 gap, which widened to 83-55 when Aronson did so again four minutes later.  KSC scored nine points on three treys in a 1:27 span to push their advantage to as many as 36 in the final minutes.  Castleton managed to shoot 56 percent (14-25) and make both of their three-point attempts in the second half, but was outscored 52-30 as they were pestered by KSC's defense to the tune of 14 turnovers and were punished 22-9 on the glass.

Jean Baptiste finished with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting with three rebounds and two assists on a night he will likely always remember.  Hunter (5-9 FG, 12 reb., 2 asst., 3 blk.) and Tahmeen Dupree (5-7 FG, 5 reb., 3 asst., 2 stl.) each finished with 10 points to round out the double-digit scorers.

Lampron finished with 15 points (6-10 FG, 2-4 3-PT) and Russell 12 (6-14 FG, 6 reb.), but the Spartans have dropped eight of 11 on the road.

Inside the Paint

• Jean Baptiste, a 36 percent three-point shooter over his career, scored 119 points in his abbreviated freshman season (13.2 per game over nine games), 375 in 2021-2022, 318 in 2022-2023, and 198 in 2023-2024 thus far.
• Hunter now needs just seven rebounds and four blocks to become the Owls' new program leader in each of those categories.
• Keene State has won all 14 meetings between the two teams, the last five and 12 overall by double-digits.  The Spartans allowed 102 points and 17 threes to the Owls at Spaulding Gymnasium a year ago.
• Aronson's five threes matched a season-high done twice previously.  KSC as a team has made at least 10 threes eight times.

Up Next

• Keene State travels to take on the University of Massachusetts-Boston (6-15, 5-7 LEC) in a league game this Saturday (February 3) at 5:30 p.m.
• Castleton hosts the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (11-9, 8-3 LEC) on the same day (2:00 p.m.).  The Spartans lost to the Corsairs by one point (73-72) on the road in January.