KEENE, N.H. – Fifth year center Jeff Hunter piled up 21 points and 18 rebounds for yet another double-double while junior Octavio Brito and senior Nate Siow each came up just one rebound shy of both having one of their own as the No. 7 nationally-ranked Keene State College men's basketball team eased to a sometimes rocky but in the end not close 88-65 Little East Conference win over Eastern Connecticut State University at Geissler Gymnasium Wednesday night.

Records

• No. 7 Keene State: 20-2, 13-0 LEC
• Eastern Connecticut: 4-18, 1-12 LEC

How It Happened
The Owls jumped out to a 19-6 lead in less than six minutes and a 19-point lead in less than 13 minutes as they ran their winning streak to 10 straight and ensured their third consecutive 20-win season and 13th since joining Division III prior to the 1997-1998 season.  It was also their sixth consecutive win, all by double-digits, in the head-to-head series with ECSU, who is eliminated from postseason tournament contention and fell to 2-9 at home.

KSC placed five in double-figures, with Brito finishing with 19 points (7-12 FG, 5-5 FT), nine rebounds, and two blocks.  Alonzo Linton had 17 points (5-13 FG, 2-4 3-PT, 5-8 FT) and six rebounds, while Mason Jean Baptiste added an efficient 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting including 3-of-5 from long range.  Siow ran the Owl offense to the tune of 10 assists, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals while turning the ball over just once.

Keene State pounded the Warriors out of the gate, scoring the game's first six points before taking a 15-6 lead 3:59 in on a trey by Jean Baptiste, who recently joined the 1,000-point club and figures to keep moving up on the Owls' all-time three-pointers made list.  He made another at the 13:39 mark to make it 22-8, and KSC led by double-digits for the rest of the first half and for nearly the entire rest of the game – though the Warriors made the game briefly more interesting with a second half run.  Consecutive buckets by Brito and Wesley Odiase near the midpoint of the opening half put KSC up 28-10, and the duo each tacked on another bucket in the next two minutes to make it 32-13 with 7:50 to go.  Linton's jumper at the 5:18 mark kept the Owls in front by their largest margin of 19, and Brito's jumper three minutes later made it 47-28 before KSC settled for a 48-34 edge at the break.  Brito and Hunter each had 12 points in the first half, combining to shoot 11-for-21 from the field while the Owls shot 50 percent from the floor (18-for-30 from inside the arc) and won by 10 on the boards.

The second half was more of the same initially, as KSC rapidly pushed the lead to a game-high 24 with a 10-0 run in the opening 2:42.  Brito and Siow accounted for every point in that surge, including a three-point play on the opening trip of the half for Brito.  A triple by Jean Baptiste at the 16:27 mark made it 61-37, and a second chance bucket by Hunter on the next trip put KSC in front 63-39.  Leading by 21 (65-44) with 14:25 left, the Owls seemed on cruise control but then turned ice cold, going over eight minutes without a field goal in what turned into a poor-shooting half.  Because of it, Eastern Connecticut trimmed 15 points off their lead and scored 14 of 16 points at one point to make it a single-digit (67-58) game on a layup by Dominick Dao at the 8:56 mark.  Dao (9-19 FG, 1-2 3-PT, 4-6 FT) scored a game-high 23 points and added 10 rebounds for his own double-double, but was limited to just 4-of-12 shooting in the second half and the Warriors just 30 percent as a team in the game and 28 percent in the final 20 minutes.

The surprising suspense was short-lived, as KSC immediately ran off seven straight and went up 74-58 on a triple by Linton with 7:04 left and the Warriors were never a threat again.  Hunter canned a three of his own from the top of the arc three minutes later to make it 80-62, and the Owls outscored the Warriors 21-7 in the final 8:20, winning the second half by nine despite shooting 37.5 percent from the floor and turning the ball over an uncharacteristic 11 times (16 in the game).  KSC did, however, make 18-of-23 at the line over the final 20 minutes and 24-of-31 in the game.  The Owls also outrebounded the Warriors 53-38.  ECSU shot a dreadful 1-for-21 from three-point range in the game, including 1-of-14 in the second half.

"Like all conference games, records don't matter," said Keene State coach David Hastings.  "Eastern was very well prepared and played extremely hard on both ends of the court.  We continue to put multiple guys in double-figures.  Winning the rebound battle was important to us.  We do need to take care of the ball better, although with our type of offense a limited amount of turnovers can be expected.  We now get ready for Western Connecticut on Saturday."

Beyond Dao, Ty Calloway was the only other Warrior in double-figures, scoring 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting.

KSC was short-handed, playing without Spencer Aronson on the evening, but nonetheless still saw all seven players that saw action get in the scoring column.  Of Hunter's 18 boards, eight came on the offensive end.

The Owls have outrebounded each of their last four opponents by at least 15 and have won the board battle in each of their last seven games.  Not surprisingly, in that span they have won all but one game by over 20 points and three by 32 or more.

"Winning the rebound battle and limiting our turnovers are keys to our success moving forward," added Hastings.  "We are not thinking about the postseason…next game up is always the most important in my mind."

The next game, in this case, happens to come on a day in which KSC can win their second straight LEC regular season title and seventh overall (two shared).

Inside the Paint

• Hunter entered the day with two more double-doubles than anybody else in the country in Division III (19).
• The Owls have won 20 games in three straight seasons for the third time (2001-2002 through 2003-2004 and 2014-2015 through 2016-2017).
• KSC is shooting 48.4 percent as a team from the field this season (45.1 last year) and 76.4 percent from the foul line (66.2 last year).
• Brito's 19 points came in a season-low 22 minutes.
• Keene State leads the series with Eastern 37-30 since joining the Little East and has won 12 of the last 15 meetings.

Up Next

• The Owls host Western Connecticut State University (19-4, 12-2 LEC) on Saturday (February 10) at 3:00 p.m.  KSC won the first meeting between the two teams in Danbury 77-69 after taking three meetings including the LEC tournament championship a season ago.
• Eastern, who has lost six straight, visits Vermont State University Castleton (6-16, 2-11 LEC) on the same day (3:00 p.m.).  The Warriors lost to the Spartans 75-68 in Connecticut on January 11.  Castleton is eliminated from LEC tournament contention with a loss.