Box Score

GORHAM, Maine – On a day where temperatures struggled to reach 20 degrees outside, the Keene State College men's basketball team was heating things up inside, shooting nearly 60 percent from the field and again seeing five players score in double-digits.  The result?  Another dominating victory, as the Owls stomped the University of Southern Maine 91-64 in Little East Conference action Saturday afternoon at Hill Gymnasium.

Records

• No. 9 Keene State:  15-2, 9-0 LEC
• Southern Maine:  9-8, 5-4 LEC

How It Happened
KSC ballooned a five-point halftime lead to 16 less than six minutes into the second half and to 23 just minutes after that, and that proved to remove any doubt about the eventual outcome as the Owls improved to 8-0 on the road this season and won their seventh straight overall, maintaining a two-game advantage for first place in the league with seven games to go (eight overall).  Southern Maine's three-game winning streak came to an end.

Misses were extremely uncommon in the final 20 minutes for Keene State, as the number of made threes (7) nearly matched the number of shots that did not go in.  In fact, for Octavio Brito, misses simply did not happen at all – 6-for-6 from the field, 1-for-1 from three, and 2-for-2 at the foul line – as he scored a team-best 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a comprehensive second half for him and the Owls, who outscored USM 56-34.  Brito began the scoring in the period with a jumper on KSC's first trip, and Mason Jean Baptiste followed with a triple a minute later for a 40-30 lead at the 18:19 mark.  It was the beginning of a strong scoring half for Jean Baptiste, who made all four threes and both free throws while shooting 4-for-5 and scoring 14 points – bringing him within 28 points of becoming the 40th member of the KSC 1,000-point club and third active player in the program to have reached that milestone. 

Ahead 45-37 with 15:31 left, the Owls dropped a hammer from there, reeling off an 8-0 burst in just 1:12 to go in front by 16 following triples from Jean Baptiste and Spencer Aronson before an inside bucket by Jeff Hunter.  Consecutive treys from the hot-shooting Jean Baptiste made it a 19-point (63-44) game with about 11 minutes to go, and his steal that led to a Wesley Odiase layup at the 10:19 mark pushed the lead to 23.  A jumper by Aronson and triple by Brito less than four minutes later made it 78-49.  All in all, after USM very briefly drew within eight, KSC ripped off a 33-12 run over an 8:33 span to run away, making 12 of 15 shots in the process (80 percent) and all five threes while limiting the Huskies to 3-of-11 from the floor.  Jean Baptiste and Brito alone had 20 points in that span, eight more than USM's team.  The lead eventually did reach 30 on Odiase's jumper with about five minutes to go that made it 82-52.  The emerging first year contributor scored twice more in the final minute to make it 91-62.  Over the last seven games, the rookie has scored in double-digits five times (finished with nine today) and is shooting 25-for-41 from the field.  He just missed becoming the sixth Owl in double-figures on this day.  The five others were more than enough, though, paced by Brito's 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting, nine rebounds, and five assists (to just one turnover).  Hunter finished with a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double (7-11 FG) and Aronson had 15 points (6-12 FG) and three rebounds.  Jean Baptiste (4-6 FG, 4-5 3-PT, 2-2 FT) also had 14 points while Alonzo Linton netted 10 (3-7 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 3-4 FT).

Tommy Whelan paced USM's effort with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting.  Cody Hawes added 14 points (6-9 FG), 10 rebounds, and three assists, but the home team was held to a 5-for-25 showing at the three-point line.  Whelan and Hawes combined for 20 of their team's 30 points in the first half in what was a back-and-forth game featuring 13 lead changes early. 

"I thought it was a very nice defense effort today by the team holding a tough Southern Maine offense to 64 points," said Keene State coach David Hastings.  "We continue to move the ball unselfishly on the offensive end, placing five guys in double-figures to meet another one of our goals.  We are looking forward to continue working hard to improve."

Southern Maine led by as many as five (12-7) less than six minutes in, but that advantage was wiped away with 12:27 left in the first half on Linton's triple that made it 14-13.  The Huskies did lead by one a number of times after that, but KSC went on a 10-4 binge over the final 4:31 of the first half that included a big flush from Brito to turn what had been a 26-25 deficit to a 35-30 lead, and they were on their way from there.

Inside the Paint

• KSC's 45 percent three-point shooting effort was their highest from deep since January 6 when they went 14-for-22 in a 117-69 win over the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
• In two games this week, the Owls shot 81-for-145 (56 percent) overall from the floor.
• Keene State has seven wins this season by at least 25 points.
• The Owls have won six straight in the series and are 46-9 against the Huskies since joining the LEC in 1997.

Up Next

• KSC returns home to host Plymouth State University (5-13, 1-8 LEC) on Wednesday night (January 24) at 7:30 p.m.  The Owls won the first meeting between the two teams 83-58 in December on the road.  Since starting 4-1, PSU has lost 12 of 13.
• Southern Maine visits Rhode Island College (12-6, 5-4 LEC) on the same night.  RIC downed the Huskies 70-66 in Gorham on December 6, but has lost three of four including an 85-77 defeat at Vermont State University Castleton today.