KEENE, N.H. – If you had plans for next Friday night, you may need to add following the Keene State College men's basketball team to that list for at least the third consecutive weekend. That is because the Owls are once again one of the final 16 teams standing in Division III for fifth time in the last 19 seasons. Behind another sterling performance from star senior forward
Jeff Hunter, who scored 17 of his team's 42 points in the second half and posted yet another double-double overall, and a smothering defense that held Tufts University to under 30 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, KSC pulled out a 77-72 victory in an NCAA tournament second round game held Saturday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.
Records
- No. 5 Keene State: 28-1
- Tufts: 20-8
Postgame Press Conference (Keene State)
Postgame Press Conference (Tufts)
Highlights
Full Game Archive
How It Happened
Playing against a rotation of four different bigs for the Jumbos, Hunter had his way, totaling 25 points on 11-for-17 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal as he posted his 24th double-double, now two more than the next closest two players, neither of whom are still playing. He had major help from junior point guard
Nate Siow, who poured in 18 points and was a critical 10-for-12 (83 percent) at the foul line while adding four assists and two steals.
Octavio Brito despite struggling from the floor still contributed a double-double of his own – marking the second straight night both KSC scoring leaders posted one after the Owls pecked away at Baruch College in the first round – by adding 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Mason Jean Baptiste rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points and two assists for KSC, who shot 38 percent (5-13) from three-point land and committed just six turnovers in the game.
It was the Tyler Aronson show – brother of Spencer on Keene State – in the first half for Tufts, as he scored 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting including 3-of-4 from the foul line. The senior guard's layup with 2:27 to go until halftime not only provided his team a one-point lead, but also marked the 1,000th point of his career. He entered the night 13 points away from the milestone, and after an off performance in the Jumbos' 78-66 first round win over Widener University on Friday night, bounced back in a big way in the opening 20 minutes of his team's biggest game of the season to this point. Senior guard Dylan Thoerner needed 17 points to reach 1,000 for his career, but KSC limited him to just eight points and five shots. Beyond Aronson, Theo Henry was the only other Jumbo in double-figures with 16 points (4-12 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 7-7 FT).
A game that going in seemed to have contrasting styles in various ways played out that way, with the size and rebounding of Tufts helping them control most of the first half as they did not trail for the opening 17:08 until
Spencer Aronson's triple made it 30-29 KSC with less than three minutes to go. The Jumbos scored five in a row to take an 18-11 lead at the 11:01 mark on a triple from Casey McLaren, and after they saw their advantage chipped down to four, built it back up to seven (29-22) on consecutive layups by Joshua Bernstein with 6:02 to go. The Jumbos then misfired on consecutive treys before Jean Baptiste connected on one of his own in a sneaky-important spot to keep the Owls right there. Hunter and Aronson gave KSC the lead with a quick five points later, and after that it turned into an expected nail-biting second round affair for most of the rest of the way. A bucket and free throw for Aronson and a three by Thoerner in the final two minutes helped Tufts bring a 37-35 lead into the break. Keene State shot 52 percent – 10 percentage points higher than the Jumbos – but was pummeled 9-1 on the offensive glass, leading to a minus-nine differential (9-0) in second chance points.
Tufts' advantage in both categories evaporated in the second half as the Owls played them even on the glass (25-25) and were just minus-three in second chance points. KSC also contained Aronson more, holding him scoreless until he made a pair of last-gasp triples in the final 22 seconds with the Jumbos' hopes fading quickly.
After not leading much in the first half, the Owls ran off seven in a row (five from Brito and two from Hunter) in the opening 2:44 out of the locker room to turn the two-point halftime deficit into a five-point lead (42-37), and thanks to Hunter's huge performance led for 16:42 of the half while trailing for just 26 seconds. Tufts erased a 44-39 deficit with a 9-2 burst that culminated with three Theo Henry free throws after he was fouled shooting from beyond the arc with 11:49 to go, but that two-point edge was gone 11 seconds later after Hunter sank two at the line. The Jumbos never did lead after that, with the Owl big man putting KSC up 52-48 with a pair of buckets within a minute of each other.
Jeric Cichon, a fifth-year senior possibly playing in his final game at Spaulding Gymnasium drilled a big corner three with 7:07 left that made it a five-point game, and Hunter's rebound and put-back with 6:21 on the clock had the Owls in front 57-50. Keene State got another incredibly timely three from Jean Baptiste at the 4:31 mark to push the lead back to six after Tufts had cut it to three, and two Cichon free throws pushed the advantage to 63-55 a little less than a minute later. Those freebies would wind up being a harbinger of things to come, as KSC made eight straight late – six from Siow – for a 69-62 lead with 1:01 left. With Tufts pressing and in a dire situation, the Owls got a fastbreak dunk from Hunter off a pass from Brito nine seconds later and then may have nicked or altered Henry's desparation three-pointer, setting up a wide open Cichon on the other end for an easy layup that made it 73-64 – and at that point the Spaulding Gymnasium crowd sensed another win on the horizon. Aronson made a couple threes late to keep some level of pressure on the Owls, including the last of which made it a one-possession game at 75-72 with three seconds left, but Siow perhaps fittingly iced it with two more free throws as KSC marched on.
Inside the Paint
- The teams had not met in 13 years since an 86-64 regular season victory for Keene State at home in December of 2010. Tufts is 7-5 all-time head-to-head against the Owls since 1997, but has lost the last two.
- KSC is 8-4 under head coach Ryan Cain in the NCAA tournament, now reaching the Sweet 16 in 2016 and 2023 and the Elite Eight in 2017.
- Siow's 10 free throws made and 12 attempted were both easily career-highs.
Up Next
- The Owls advance to the Sweet 16 next Friday (March 10) at a site and time to be determined, and it will be a rematch from last year's tournament with KSC taking on No. 7 Swarthmore College once more. The Owls upset the Garnet 84-83 on their home court in the first round last year.
- Tufts' season is over. They were looking for their third trip to at least the Sweet 16 since 2016, but were dominated 18-5 in points off turnovers on the day.
