SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Fresh off a pair of national agencies recognizing his play over the past week, senior forward Jeff Hunter did not slow down, scoring 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting while also adding 11 rebounds, seven blocks, four steals, and three assists as the Keene State College men's basketball team ran all over Springfield College 113-75 in a pre-Thanksgiving Tuesday night contest at Blake Arena.

Records

• Keene State:  5-0
• Springfield:  1-4

How It Happened
The Owls were not threatened for long in their fifth consecutive victory to open the season, as they took the lead for good at the 11:27 mark of the first half on a Mason Jean Baptiste triple and then turned what was a 10-point lead with 2:51 left in the first half into a 35-point blowout barely over four minutes into the second when Jean Baptiste connected from distance again.  It was another commanding victory for KSC, who is averaging 92.6 points per game (a top-15 mark in the country) and is outscoring opponents by an average of 24 points per game.  The Owls started slowly from three-point land in the game, connecting on just three of their first 16 attempts, but returned to their usual early-season form later, finishing 12 for their last 27 (44 percent) the rest of the way as they posted their largest win in series history over the Pride one year after beating them by 36 points (93-57) in Keene.  For the second straight contest – and 11th in the past 31 – the team-oriented Owls put five in double-figures.  They had done so for the first time this season in an 84-62 victory over No. 17 Marietta College Saturday in Indiana.  The 113 points is the most KSC has scored in any game since a 116-57 win over Mitchell College at Spaulding Gymnasium on January 31, 2006.

"We got off to a bit of a slow start tonight after a long weekend and a day of travel," said Keene State head coach Ryan Cain.  "I don't think we played the way we are capable of to start, but I'm really proud of how we bounced back to finish the (first) half, and specifically after halftime I thought we got our legs back and played with intensity defensively.  For the guys that came off the bench, equally as good of an effort.  Proud of the effort in the second half."

KSC carried a 50-33 lead into the locker room, scoring the final eight points after Springfield had trimmed a 42-26 deficit to nine (42-33) at the 3:24 mark.  That was just a harbinger of things to come, as the Owls came firing out of the break with a 12-0 burst – extending the overall run to 20 consecutive points – as they went in front 62-33 on two Jeric Cichon free throws with 17:37 left.  A triple from Jean Baptiste, who finished with 15 points and made 4-of-10 from long range, and steal and dunk from Octavio Brito highlighted the surge.  KSC forced eight turnovers in the opening four minutes of the second half – and 17 overall in the period to go along with 27 in the game.  They had a 40-10 edge in points off turnovers, finishing with only nine themselves for the second consecutive contest.

The Owls kept pushing the entire half, with a triple from Spencer Aronson making it 76-40 with 14:23 left and another from Nick Garrison – the first of his career – putting his team up 88-53 with 9:15 to go.  Sean Cullen also hit his first a few minutes later, as did Jake D'Auria with 1:32 left.  At that point the lead was 110-73.  It grew as high as 41 in the second half, a period in which the Owls were able to get 16 different players at least four minutes of action.  They also went 11-for-25 (44 percent) from deep in the final 20 minutes.

Cain pointed to a key separator being defensive pressure, and consistency in applying it.

"Nate (Siow) starts our pressure defense.  I think he is as good as anybody in the country at that, and everybody else follows his lead," Cain said.

For Hunter, most of his damage – 17 points worth on 7-of-9 shooting – came in the first half, as he only played eight minutes in the second.  The Owl big man had 17 points, eight rebounds (five offensive), four blocks, and two steals to help KSC still record a 17-point halftime edge despite a cold-shooting start from three-point range.  He has 18 blocks in his last four games and 45 rebounds in the last three.

Brito finished with 13 points (6-14 FG), four steals, and two assists while Cichon had 12 points (5-6 FG), four rebounds, four assists, and two blocks.  Nate Siow finished with 11 points to round out the double-figure scorers.  Overall, all 16 Owls that saw action found the scoring column.

Springfield, which has lost three consecutive games to Little East Conference opponents by double-figures (26 at Western Connecticut State University and 17 at Eastern Connecticut State University), was paced by 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting from Curtiss Blische.  Zeke Blauner (6-10 FG, 4-5 FT) added 17 points and three assists, but the Pride gave up their most points in 11 years (a 132-113 win over Castleton State University at home).  Springfield hung around early, taking an 11-9 lead less than four minutes in on a layup by Blauner and then a 19-18 edge on a jumper from Blische at the 11:44 mark, but a 14-2 push by KSC that took about three minutes helped them take firm control, and they were well on their way from there, blitzing another opponent with an avalanche that removed all doubt from the game quickly.

Inside the Paint

• Hunter was named to the D3hoops.com National Team of the Week and the USBWA Player of the Week earlier today.  He is shooting 71 percent (44-of-62) from the field on the season.
• KSC has made double-digit threes in four of five games this season, matching their season-high of 15 tonight.  In the one game they made fewer than 10 (eight), they still shot the long ball at a 42 percent clip.
• The Owls have won five of the last eight in the series, four by double-figures, and have scored over 100 points three times (four if you include a 106-101 overtime loss in 2019-2020).  The last two decisions have been by a combined 74 points.  Springfield's three wins in the stretch are all by single-digits.

Up Next

• Keene State returns home for the first time in 16 days when they take on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2-3) on Saturday, November 26 for a 1:00 p.m. start.  Admission will be free with a donation to the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention.  MIT fell at Tufts University 100-70 tonight, allowing the Jumbos to shoot 61 percent from the field.  The Engineers have had a rollercoaster start, winning two of three games decided by seven points or less following an 89-57 home loss to Husson University in their season-opener before tonight's result.  When told of the Thanksgiving break between games, Cain mentioned it is a "good opportunity to highlight the character of the team so far this season," adding that he is "very impressed with their ability to be player-driven and remain focused on getting better the next day."
• Springfield hosts Trinity College (Conn.) (4-0) next Wednesday, November 30 at 7:00 p.m.