KEENE, N.H. – In his postgame interview on the Owls Media Network following the completion of their unblemished conference regular season slate on Saturday, Keene State College men's basketball head coach Ryan Cain talked about how he would stress to his team that they were 0-0 again and nothing they accomplished – including a 24-1 regular season mark, a current No. 5 national ranking in the d3hoops.com Top 25 poll, or anything else – would matter once the playoffs start.  One game into the postseason, he and his team looked much like they have all season.  Senior star forward Jeff Hunter did, too.  The KSC big man finished with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting, 15 rebounds, three blocks, and thee steals as his team rolled to an 83-61 victory over Eastern Connecticut State University in the semifinal round of the Little East Conference tournament Thursday night at Spaulding Gymnasium, tying the program record for wins in a season set two previous times.

Records

• No. 5 Keene State:  25-1
• Eastern Connecticut:  14-13

Postgame Interview (Coach Cain)
Postgame Interview (Nate Siow)

How It Happened
Hunter continues to be a double-double machine, recording his 21st of the season (one off tying the national lead), and it was his late first half flurry – particularly on the defensive end to set up transition opportunities – that helped the Owls gain separation late in the first half and never look back from there as they advanced to the Little East Conference tournament championship game for the 15th time since they joined the league prior to the 1997-1998 season.  That is 58 percent of the 26 seasons in that span, and far and away the most in the conference, six more than the next closest in appearances (Rhode Island College, 9).  Keene State will aim for their sixth championship and fifth since 2015 when they host the other semifinal winner, Western Connecticut State University, on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. for the title.  The No. 2 seed Wolves, who had only two losses (both against KSC) before losing two games in a row last week including at home to ECSU, pulverized sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth 94-75 in the other semifinal to clinch their spot.

Tonight's game against the Warriors played out in a similar fashion to the last meeting.  On February 1 at Spaulding Gymnasium, Eastern bolted out to a 19-6 lead in the game's opening nine minutes but were then routed 86-47 over the final 30 minutes as the Owls prevailed 92-66.  The slow starts have been something Cain and the KSC coaching staff have been hoping to eliminate, though tonight the Warriors got a three from Tyreice Woods and six points from Quinton Lott to rapidly take a 9-2 lead just 2:14 into the game.  It was still 11-6 after Lott's seventh and eighth points at the 16:14 mark, but KSC then limited ECSU to just 13 points over the remainder of the half as the Warriors' shooting percentage reached a nadir of 28 percent.  In that time, the Owls, behind a combined 21 points from Hunter and Octavio Brito slowly but surely took command.  Tahmeen Dupree hit Hunter for a nice assist that led to a dunk for KSC's first lead (15-14) with 12:45 to go in the half.  Jalen Williams and Max Lee helped Eastern Connecticut nudge back in front 22-20 a little over six minutes later, but Nate Siow's layup at the 6:21 mark kicked off a 16-2 surge over the remainder of the half that gave KSC a 36-24 lead at the break.  Mason Jean Baptiste's trey with exactly five minutes to go put the Owls up 25-22, and then Hunter's defense took over from there, as he blocked Woods and then scored while being fouled on the other end six seconds later.  Woods was rejected once more on the next trip, and that led to a Jean Baptiste triple and a 30-22 KSC edge with 4:06 left.  Hunter and Dupree layups over the next two minutes put the Owls up 12, and that is the lead they carried into the locker room thanks to a run of 14 consecutive points late in the half.

Brito began the second half with a pair of free throws and Jean Baptiste followed by going right to the basket for a layup as KSC pushed the lead to 16 (40-24) barely over a minute in.  A pair of layups from Jeric Cichon in a three possession span for the Owls had the advantage to 44-27, but thanks to 55 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, the Warriors hung around to some degree, trimming a 46-30 deficit to single digits (46-37) on a three from Thomas Close with 13:37 left.  However, a putback bucket for Brito on the other end provided a KSC answer, and the Warriors did not have many of them defensively for the Owl offense or especially Hunter, who scored while being fouled 10 seconds after ECSU had drawn within 50-41.  Brito then found him cutting to the basket for a jam at the 9:51 mark that put KSC in front 54-43, and the home team and top seed never saw their lead dip below double-digits again.  Dupree used his quickness to waltz to the rim a minute later and was followed by a Siow layup that made it 60-45 with 8:07 left.  Although the Warriors warmed up from long range in the second half after a frigid first, KSC made 4-of-6 themselves in the second half, including one from Cichon that made it 65-47 with 6:16 to go.  A Brito trey a minute later kept the lead right there, and Cichon returned to throw the final dagger, removing whatever doubt was left, with 3:48 on the clock that made it 74-55.  Liam Johnston's three at the 1:37 mark gave KSC a game-high 25 point advantage as they posted their 12th win by at least 20 points this season and second against ECSU.

Brito finished with 18 points (6-14 FG, 4-4 FT), five rebounds, two blocks, and two steals to back Hunter.  Cichon (11 pts., 4-8 FG, 2-2 3-PT) and Jean Baptiste (10 pts., 4-6 FG, 2-3 3-PT) each efficiently added double-figures while combining for 10 rebounds.  Dupree finished with eight points (4-7 FG), six rebounds, and two assists as he continues to evolve his role and chip in effective minutes as the Owls improved to 13-1 at home.

Eastern Connecticut was led by 20 points on 9-for-16 shooting from Max Lee, who also had nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals.  Lott ended up finishing with 10 points (5-8 FG), four rebounds, and three assists, but no other Warrior reached double-figures.  Leading scorer Williams was held to just five points on 2-of-10 shooting and Woods had five while making 2-of-12.  The Owls' pestering defense and speed had some hand in 22 ECSU turnovers (KSC had only 12).  Even with a hot-shooting second half, the Warriors' overall field goal percentage remained below 40 percent at 39.4 as they saw a five-game winning streak snapped.  They finished 8-2 in their last 10 games, getting to 14-12 entering the night after a 2-7 start, but both defeats were blowouts at the hands of KSC.

For the Owls, it will be viewed as just another step to their ultimate goals.  However, come Saturday, Cain said the Owls will again focus on being 1-0 on the day.

"Let's pack this place Saturday," he said.
 
Inside the Paint

• KSC's 25 wins match the single-season bests that were also posted by the 2003-2004 Owl Hall of Fame team that finished 25-6 and reached the NCAA tournament Elite Eight and the 2006-2007 squad that finished with the same mark and made an NCAA Sweet 16 run.
• Hunter has recorded nine consecutive double-doubles and is shooting 61 percent this season.
• The Owls went 3-0 against Eastern Connecticut this season and are 10-3 in the last 13 head-to-head meetings between the programs.  KSC has also won four straight over the Warriors in the LEC tournament, including a 79-56 road win over ECSU in the same round a year ago that helped take the Owls to their fifth league championship two days later.

Up Next

• Keene State will host the LEC championship game against WestConn on Saturday (February 25) at 1:00 p.m.  KSC won both regular season matchups, 71-68 in overtime in Keene on January 7 and 92-76 in Danbury, Conn. on February 4 in a game that was for first place at the time.  It is just the second time the teams will meet in the LEC title game, with WCSU prevailing in 2002 in Keene 86-83.
• Eastern Connecticut's season is over.  They had won five straight entering the night, but finished 0-5 against nationally ranked opponents this year.