Brito Leads Way With 29 Points as KSC Moves Within One Step of Conference Three-Peat

KEENE, N.H. – The Keene State College men's basketball team is going back to a familiar spot – the Little East Conference championship game.  Behind a combined 60 points from Octavio Brito, Jeff Hunter, and Nate Siow, the 11th-ranked and top-seeded Owls did what they needed to do, pulling away from No. 5 seed Rhode Island College near the end of the first half before never being significantly threatened in the second as they went on to an 83-68 conference tournament semifinal game victory Thursday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Records

• No. 11 Keene State:  23-3
• Rhode Island College:  15-12

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

How It Happened
Playing the same Anchormen team they clobbered 88-59 in their regular season finale on Saturday before a quarterfinal bye, KSC found it to be tougher sledding early on this night – trailing by eight – but ultimately closed the first half on an 8-0 burst for a nine-point lead and pulled away from there, moving on to the LEC final for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons.  The Owls will make their 16th appearance in the league championship game on Saturday – seven more than the next closest team since they joined in 1997-1998 – and are hoping to complete the first three-peat of any team in league play since the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the mid-1990s.

If the spot is familiar, the opponent will be too, as it will be a rematch of last year's title game when second-seeded Western Connecticut State University comes to town.  The Wolves, who lost 83-79 in OT to the Owls last year in the final, punched their ticket back with an 88-63 blowout win over UMass-Dartmouth.  KSC will have revenge on their minds, as WCSU ended their 36-game Little East winning streak on February 10 when they held on for a 76-73 win in Keene after the Owls won 77-69 in Danbury.

As far as Thursday, it was a far different start than when the last two teams met.  Saturday in a season finale that did not have any standings implications for KSC but did have a possible home game on the line for RIC, the Owls scored nine of the first 11 points and led 29-11 in the opening half while cruising to a win.  KSC held Rhode Island College well under 30 percent shooting for the game.  This time around, the Anchormen led 9-5 less than four minutes in and 19-11 following an Isaiah Dahl three-pointer at the 12:20 mark of the opening half.  It did not take very long for the Owls to rectify the situation, as they reeled off eight straight to take their first lead (20-19) on a pair of Brito free throws and later made it 28-23 at the 4:43 mark following two from the charity stripe by Nate Siow.  Alonzo Linton canned a triple on the following possession for a seven-point (31-24) lead, and despite allowing an 8-2 run for RIC, Keene State closed the half strong with a Brito three and Wesley Odiase layup at the cup to highlight an 8-0 push that put the Owls ahead 41-32.

The Anchormen got within seven after an opening basket to kick off the second half, but Brito then drilled a pair of threes in less than two minutes while Siow and Hunter also scored inside as KSC took a 51-36 lead with 16:54 left.  The lead was never below 10 again, and expanded to a game-high 61-43 five minutes later.  From there, Rhode Island College stopped the snowball, but when the Owls needed a basket, they always got it, including when a jumper from Hunter with 7:44 remaining made it 67-52.  It was a 12-point game a few minutes later when Hunter made a free throw and Siow sliced to the basket to push the lead right back to 15.  KSC's pair of preseason All-Americans combined to deny RIC any chance of a comeback, as Brito was good on a jumper with 3:27 left to make it 74-59.  Two Brito free throws and another Hunter bucket a short time later had the Owls in front by 15 again, and they were well on their way from there.

Rhode Island College struggled to the finish after a strong start, but upended No. 4 seed University of Southern Maine 73-70 in the quarterfinals Tuesday night, beating them for the third time to earn a third matchup against Keene State.  However, they still could not find nearly enough answers against the Owls, shooting less than 40 percent from the field in all three meetings.

Brito's (7-18 FG, 3-7 3-PT, 12-12 FT) final statline included 29 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and two steals.  Hunter had a 15 point, 16 rebound double-double, while Siow had 16 points (7-11 FG, 2-2 FT), two rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

RIC was paced for the second straight matchup against KSC by Deyshawn Tengbeh, who had 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting, 2-4 from long range and 5-for-6 at the foul line.  He added eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and two steals.  Ousmane Kourouma, a senior, had 10 points, 19 rebounds, and two blocks but was held to 4-of-19 shooting.

Keene State will be aiming for their seventh league championship on Saturday.

Inside the Paint

• The Owls have won 11 straight against the Anchormen and are 21-9 against them at Spaulding Gymnasium since 1997.  After RIC won the first five postseason meetings between the two sides, KSC has won the last four.
• Saturday and into the NCAA tournament, KSC will likely like to find their range from three, as they have shot 31 percent or less from deep in five of their last six games. 
• KSC is shooting 76.4 percent from the free throw line as a team this year, a 10 percentage point improvement thus far from a year ago.
• Siow has combined for 32 points on 13-for-25 shooting, seven assists, and five steals over the last two games.

Up Next

• Tip-off on Saturday for the championship against WestConn (22-4, 14-2 LEC) is at 1:00 p.m.  KSC has won titles in 2004, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2023 while the Wolves have taken the LEC in 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2020.  The last time a team won three consecutive championships, as KSC will aim to do, was when UMD won it from 1993 through 1995.  The Owls lead the series with Western 40-20.