KEENE, N.H. – Mitch Shettles scored five of his Owl career-high 26 points in a 33 second span late in the second half to put the Keene State College men's basketball team ahead for good as KSC outscored Nichols College 24-7 over the final 5:29 to pick up their first win of the season 87-72 on Friday night at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Highlights...coming soon
Postgame Interview (Coach Enright)
Postgame Interview (Mitch Shettles)

The Owls advance to the championship game of the Keene State Invitational presented by the Best Western Plus Keene on Saturday and will take on 19th-ranked Worcester Polytechnic Institute, who overcame a 13-point second half deficit to beat St. Joseph's College (Maine) 73-67 in the opener.

For KSC (1-3), who fell in two games to nationally-ranked teams to begin the season and then suffered a tough loss in their home opener last Saturday, the win was much-needed – and came with a number of contributions, including from sophomore Denis Wainaina, who finished with a 12-point, 14-rebound double-double to go along with four blocks.  He also helped the Owls limit Nichols (1-4) to just 38 percent shooting overall and grabbed nine rebounds in the second half alone.  Four of his boards came in the game-deciding stretch in which KSC finally put the Bison away, forcing them to miss eight of their final 10 shots and commit four turnovers down the stretch.

It was surely a game of ebbs and flows, as the Owls scored seven of the first nine points but then found themselves down 14-9 with 12:12 to go in the opening half.  KSC steadied themselves, using an 8-0 burst to turn a three-point deficit into a 27-22 advantage with 2:27 to go and appeared to have all the momentum heading into the locker room as Liam Johnston buried a three just ahead of the halftime buzzer to give the home team their first double-digit lead (36-26).

But Javen Flowers-Smith and the Bison, who dropped their conference opener 84-73 at Endicott College as part of their 1-3 start, had other ideas – quickly trimming their deficit to one possession at 41-38 before the first media timeout of the second half.  Allyn Wright canned an important three to keep the Owls in front 46-42, but the Bison went on a 7-0 run thereafter to take a 49-46 lead with 13:01 to go.  Perhaps one of the most important swings of the game came next – as Johnston and Shettles combined to drain three triples in a lightning quick 9-0 run that took 36 seconds.  Shettles added another two that was barely inside the line with 11:13 on the clock for a 57-49 lead.

The Bison kept charging though and refused to go away, answering with a 10-1 run of their own to go back in front (59-58) at the 8:27 mark.  Nichols led two once more a little less than three minutes later before KSC put the clamps on down the stretch.  Jordan Cooper was instrumental in helping salt the game away for the Owls, going 9-of-10 at the charity stripe and firing down two thunderous dunks, the first as the clock hit one minute to make it 81-70.

Shettles finished 8-of-12 from the field including 5-of-6 from three and 5-of-5 at the foul line while adding eight rebounds and two steals.  Cooper overall was 14-of-17 at the line and finished with 22 points, six rebounds, four assists, and four steals.

KSC was 8-of-17 (47 percent) from three overall in the game including making six of nine in the second half.

Flowers-Smith paced Nichols with 22 points (9-20 FG, 3-8 3-PT).

The meeting between the two programs – both of whom have reached the Elite Eight over the last decade – was the first in the regular season in program history.

Tomorrow, Keene State will take on WPI (4-0) for the first time since 2016 looking to add a resume win to their early-season slate.