HARTFORD, Conn. – Ryan Blakey made 5-of-7 from three-point range and scored a team-high 19 points off the bench, but it was not enough as the Keene State College men's basketball team ran out of steam, falling to nationally No. 4 ranked Trinity College (Conn.) 93-78 in an NCAA tournament second round contest on Saturday night at Ray Oosting Gymnasium.

Highlights
Postgame Press Conference

The Owls conclude their season, the first under new head coach Steve Enright, at 23-6, advancing in the NCAA tournament with at least one win for the fourth consecutive year.  KSC went 98-19 (.838) in the four full seasons of the majorly accomplished senior class, becoming the first program ever to win for consecutive conference tournament championships.  Octavio Brito finishes as the second leading scorer in Owl history with 2,206 career points among a laundry list of other accomplishments that include being a two-time and almost assuredly a three-time All-American.  He is in the top ten in school history in 18 different statistical categories – among them, three-pointers made (3rd, 268), field goals made (4th, 789), games started (t-4th, 111), rebounds (5th, 838), three-point percentage (6th, .396), free throw percentage (6th, .811), blocks (6th, 115), points per game (9th, 18.9), assists (9th, 307), and steals (9th, 166).  Along with Brito, Mason Jean Baptiste, Spencer Aronson, and Nate Siow combined to score 5,344 points for the Owls.  Jean Baptiste and Siow each joined the 41-member 1,000-point club.

As for tonight, the host Bantams (26-3) – coming off a 30-win season and a Final Four appearance a season ago before falling to eventual national champion Trine University 66-54 in the semifinals – proved to be too much in the end and a poor-shooting first half where the Owls were unable to capitalize on Trinity's below average field goal percentage proved to be costly.  KSC shot only 30 percent in the opening 20 minutes and just 3-for-15 from three, falling behind 12-4 a little over four minutes in and 36-25 at the break.  The Owls were within 20-16 with 7:26 on the clock in the first half, but Henry Vetter made two consecutive threes on the next two trips to give his team a 10-point lead.  Drew Lazarre was fouled shooting a three at the 5:07 mark and made all three from the line to push Trinity's lead into double-digits, and KSC trailed by that same margin heading to the locker room after scoring only six points in the final six minutes.  The teams combined for just four assists and 12 turnovers in the half.  Trinity was plus-8 at the foul line, going 12-for-13 to help negate a 36 percent shooting performance themselves.

The Bantams opened the second half on a 9-4 burst in just 1:12, with Vetter and Lazarre making triples to make it 45-29.  KSC chipped away from there, getting within 46-36 on a triple by Brito with 14:51 left and single-digits (49-41) after Jean Baptiste went 3-for-3 at the charity stripe two minutes later.  Brito scored inside with 12:24 to go to make it a six-point game and the Owls kept coming, making it 55-51 two minutes later on a steal and trey by Aronson.  Johnston canned a deep shot of his own with 9:45 remaining to bring KSC within one possession (57-54), but the Bantams answered with a three from Jared Berry and a layup by David Ayles to go up eight.  The Owls twice more drew within one possession, never got enough key stops down the stretch to ensure their fourth NCAA tournament over a top ten ranked team.  A Leo Chaikin layup inside with 7:38 to go made it 62-59 and another Blakey triple trimmed KSC's deficit to just two (64-62) 32 seconds later, but Vetter scored seven straight points to push the Bantams back out to a nine-point lead, including a crushing three with 5:20 left that made it 71-62.  Vetter actually missed a long-range attempt after Blakey had brought the Owls within two, but Will Dorion grabbed one of Trinity's 16 offensive rebounds to and Vetter was then fouled, making two at the line.

Keene State got four points on one trip thanks to a technical foul on Jarrel Okorougo and a Brito layup to get within 71-66 at the 5:02 mark, but Okorougo scored inside on the ensuing trip and a Tristan Davis steal turned into a Lazarre triple on the other end with 3:59 to go as the Bantams pushed their advantage to 76-66.  The Owls never got closer than eight from there, with Lazarre's triple with 2:22 to go putting Trinity up 13 and delivering a crushing blow to KSC's hopes.  The home team went 12-for-14 from the foul line in the final 1:50 to secure their fifth Sweet 16 trip in program history.  Last season in their Final Four run, Trinity ousted Utica University 83-54 and Swarthmore College 83-74 in the first weekend before taking down Tufts University 70-53 and Calvin University 69-62 to win the sectional.

KSC was searching for their seventh Sweet 16 trip, having made the Elite Eight in 2004 and 2017.  It was Vetter and Lazarre who ultimately denied it, combining for 31 of Trinity's 57 second half points on 7-of-15 shooting including 5-of-12 from deep.  Vetter was 10-for-11 at the foul line in the final 20 minutes and Okorougo 9-for-10.  He and Lazarre also grabbed seven rebounds apiece as the Bantams had 11 offensive rebounds in the second half and KSC 14 total rebounds (the Owls were outrebounded 22-14 in the final 20 minutes).

Brito finished with 18 points (6-14 FG, 1-5 3-PT, 5-7 FT), six rebounds, and four assists in his final career game.  Jean Baptiste joined Blakey and Brito in double-figures with 11 (3-8 FG, 1-3 3-PT, 4-4 FT).  Jean Baptiste fouled out with 1:03 left and Brito with 39 seconds left after he got his fourth with 6:29 left.  Wesley Odiase picked up his fourth foul with 10:08 left and Blakey was playing with three with 14:31 to go.

Vetter finished with 29 points (5-13 FG, 4-9 3-PT, 15-17 FT), four rebounds, and three assists to lead all scorers for Trinity.  Lazarre (5-12 FG, 4-10 3-PT, 5-7 FT) added 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals, while Okorougo was 11-for-12 at the foul line and finished with a 17-point, 13-rebound double-double despite a 3-for-11 performance from the field.

The Bantams have won three of four all-time meetings at KSC, with all of the wins coming in Hartford and the one loss in Keene.  The teams last met in 2018.

KSC's now 25 NCAA tournament games have come against 22 different opponents (with Trinity and Clark University being the most recent first-timers).  The only teams they have played multiple times in March Madness are Babson College (1-1), Christopher Newport University (1-1), and Swarthmore (1-1).  All of the Owls' 10 NCAA tournament appearances have come since 2004, and they have fifteen 20-win seasons in the Division III era including eight since 2014-2015, when their run of seven LEC tournament championships and eight NCAA appearances began.

Trinity, the announced host of the sectional for the second consecutive year, will take on Western New England University on Friday night with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.  It is a rematch of a game Trinity won 60-57 in Springfield in November.  WNE, who also lost to KSC at home, qualified for the Sweet 16 with an 83-73 win over Hamilton College and a 79-61 victory over host Montclair State University this weekend.

The Owls will now gear up for the 2025-2026 season, Enright's second, as they look to continue to establish the program as a regional and national contender despite graduating one of their most accomplished senior classes in program history.