KEENE, N.H. – Octavio Brito poured in 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting including a 6-of-10 mark from three as the Keene State College men's basketball team shot 52 percent overall from the field to post a comfortable yet high-scoring 101-87 Little East Conference win over Rhode Island College on Saturday afternoon at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Highlights...coming soon
Postgame Interview (Coach Enright)...coming soon
Postgame Interview (Octavio Brito)...coming soon

The victory moves the Owls (12-3, 7-0 LEC) a game ahead of the Anchormen (11-5, 6-1 LEC) in the conference standings as they attempt to win a fourth consecutive LEC championship this coming February.  It also continues a dominant start to conference play for the home team, who was coming off consecutive 38-point victories on Tuesday and Thursday.  Today was closer, but even still, KSC led for 37:44 of the 40 minutes and by double-digits for the vast majority of the second half.  They have now outscored their seven conference opponents by 212 points (30.2 per game), winning every game by double-digits. 

The Anchormen entered the day having excelled in close and late situations, winning all six of their league games by seven points or less and one in overtime, but today never got that far.  Although they hung around for longer than other LEC peers have so far against the Owls, trimming a 17-point deficit to three late in the first half, they could not slow down KSC's three-point barrage, as they shot 11-for-19 from deep in the opening 20 minutes to build a 60-48 lead.  Rhode Island College, who lost for the 12th straight time to the Owls, shot 60 percent overall (18-30) in the first half and made 3-of-5 from three, but still found themselves down double-digits.

Less than five minutes into the second half, KSC pumped their lead to a game-high 20 (71-51) on a Spencer Aronson steal and Nate Siow layup, and they were in command from there with Brito scoring 14 (4-7 FG, 3-5 3-PT, 3-5 FT) and grabbing six rebounds in the final 20 minutes en route to his ninth career effort of 30 points or more.

As a team, on the heels of an 18-for-43 (42 percent) effort from long range in the Thursday blowout win over Western Connecticut State University, the Owls were 16-for-35 from three this afternoon, a 46 percent clip.  On the week, KSC shot a sizzling 45 percent beyond the arc, connecting on a whopping 46 three-pointers.  They have made double-digits as a team in five straight games and are shooting 36 percent overall on the season from three, making 88 more than their opponents in 15 games.  Today, despite Rhode Island College shooting 8-of-19 from deep (42 percent), they were still outscored 48-24 from three.

Keene State used their defense to cool off the Anchormen considerably after halftime, holding them to just a 36 percent mark (15-for-42) from the floor.  In their initial run in the second half, the Owls held RIC to just eight points in the opening seven minutes.

The visitors responded with small bursts to hang around, including a 15-4 push to make it 80-71 on Loudon Chupas' three-point play with 9:11 left, but Brito answered with a layup.  The Anchormen got within nine once more a minute later, but Leo Chaikin sliced to the basket to make it 84-73 and Aronson punctuated a block from Siow by connecting from deep on the other end to make it a 14-point game again.  Any faint hopes for RIC were firmly extinguished on Mason Jean Baptiste's triple with 2:34 left that made it 95-80.

Keene State gained their first bit of separation in the game halfway through the opening half when they scored seven straight points capped by a three from Aronson to go up 24-16 at the 12:03 mark.  It was 27-21 less than two minutes later when the Owls embarked on an electric stretch that saw Brito find Ryan Blakey for a three before then throwing down a dunk after an offensive rebound on back-to-back possessions to make it 32-21 with 10:07 left.  Then, in a 32-second span, Blakey made a three and pickpocketed Dwayne Robinson-O'Hagan twice beyond the three-point line, the first time feeding Brito for a bucket down low before scoring himself 11 seconds later as KSC took a 40-23 lead with 8:35 remaining.  It seemed another Owl runaway would commence, but the Anchormen hit back with nine straight points to stay in it, and then after a Brito three, ran off 10 of the next 12 to make it a one possession game again.  However, KSC promptly made five threes in the final 2:23 of the half – three by Aronson, one by Brito, and one by Johnston – to restore a double-digit lead.

In addition to Brito's 30 points, he added nine rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.  Aronson (5-9 3-PT, 3-3 FT) added 18 points and six boards, while Blakey (11 pts., 4-8 FG, 2-4 3-PT, 5 asst., 4 stl.) and Wesley Odiase (10 pts., 3-9 FG) were also in double-figures.

RIC was led by 20 points apiece from Chupas (7-12 FG, 2-6 3-PT, 4-5 FT, 2 asst., 1 reb.) and Ousmane Kourouma (10-19 FG, 0-11 FT, 15 reb., 3 asst.).  Xavier Mendez added 17 points (6-10 FG, 3-4 3-PT, 2-3 FT) and 10 rebounds while Deyshawn Tengbeh had 13 (3-11 FG) to go along with seven rebounds.  The Anchormen hung around thanks to a 50-31 rebounding edge including 23 on the offensive glass (Kourouma had nine on his own), but converted that gap into just 13 second chance points.  KSC had nine blocks to just two for the Anchormen, and also had an 11-4 edge in steals.

The Owls improved to 6-0 at home and will be back at it as their busy stretch continues when they host Middlebury College (8-8, 0-4 NESCAC) on Monday, January 20 for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.  KSC won last year's meeting 84-66 on the road.  The Panthers have lost four straight, including home contests to Connecticut College (74-55) and No. 9 Tufts University (77-57) this weekend.  Rhode Island College hosts Eastern Connecticut State University for a conference game Wednesday (January 22) at 7:30 p.m.