KEENE, N.H. – Senior Leo Chaikin made sure he had a day – and week – to remember.  Fresh off helping the Keene State College men's basketball team pick up a big road win over Eastern Connecticut State University on Wednesday night, he was back at it again, efficient as ever, pouring in 22 points on an eye-popping 9-of-11 mark from the field while grabbing 10 rebounds for a double-double as the Owls pounded Rhode Island College 90-69 on Senior Day at Spaulding Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.

There were 16 scenarios entering the day – eight of which would guarantee KSC (15-10, 11-5 LEC) the No. 3 seed, and that is where they ended up after all four home teams picked up wins on the final day of the regular season.  As the Owls' win was wrapping up, they still had a chance to move up to No. 2 – and with it a bye and a home semifinal – but Western Connecticut State University pulled away from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in the final two minutes for an 81-71 win that gives the Wolves a share of the regular season crown and the top seed thanks to their sweep of the University of Massachusetts-Boston, who was denied clinching that spot on Wednesday when they lost 95-90 to UMass-Dartmouth.  The Corsairs gave themselves a chance with that win but were still forced to win today, a formula that seemed like it might benefit the Owls as well, but UMD's last lead came at 59-58 as they were outscored 23-12 the rest of the way and were eliminated.

Ultimately, what shakes out from the day's results, is the path that KSC will have to take if they want to capture an unprecedented fifth straight league championship.  It will begin on Tuesday night (after the so-called "Blizzard of 2026" for some areas of New England) with a rematch against Rhode Island College (11-14, 7-9 LEC), who stayed in sixth-place after UMD's loss despite coming perilously close from falling all the way out of the bracket completely thanks to six consecutive losses, including one at last place Vermont State University Castleton, to end the regular season.

KSC was in command throughout after they honored four seniors (Chaikin, Ryan Blakey, Mitch Shettles, Liam Johnston) and student assistant coach Andy Colbert, opening a 9-3 lead over the first six minutes.  The lead ballooned to double-digits (16-6) after a triple by Jordan Cooper and Kareem Porter Jr.'s drive to the basket at the 11:05 mark, and treys by Cooper and Shettles about three minutes later made it 26-12.  The Anchormen briefly responded, embarking on a 15-7 burst in a 4:06 span while making seven consecutive shots to get within 33-27, but Johnston stopped the run with a big triple at the 3:24 mark.  Chaikin surged to the bucket for a thunderous dunk in the final minute and Johnston connected from deep again 20 seconds after that as KSC carried a commanding 44-30 lead into the break.

Johnston and Shettles combined for five points right out of the gate to start the second half to push the Owls' lead to 19, and it rose to 21 (64-43) after two free throws by Cooper with 12:23 left.  Trailing 70-50 with 10:44 to go, Rhode Island College made one more rally attempt, slashing their deficit to single-digits at nine (74-65) with 5:12 left.  But Johnston came to the rescue again with a three after a Chaikin offensive rebound to put the lead right back into double-digits, and Chaikin then went in for his second powerful dunk of the afternoon off a feed from Cooper to make it 79-65 with 3:55 remaining.

Needing seven points to reach 1,000 for his collegiate career, Blakey reached the milestone – on Senior Day with family in attendance no less – with his layup with 1:52 to go that made it 85-69.  He has 354 career points with the Owls after transferring from the College of Southern Maryland (541 points) and Hampden-Sydney College (105 points).

Chaikin's double-double is his second of the season, and concludes a monster week in which he will finish with 45 points on 19-of-26 shooting, 18 rebounds, and five assists as KSC went 2-0.  Shettles also had a double-double of 12 points (5-12 FG) and 10 rebounds, while Cooper had 17 points (5-10 FG, 4-7 3-PT, 3-4 FT), three boards, and three steals.  Johnston had 12 points on four threes and four rebounds as KSC shot 49 percent from the field overall and had 18 assists to just nine turnovers.  The Owls also went 12-for-31 (38.7 percent) from three.

RIC also committed only nine miscues and shot 10-of-26 from three themselves, but KSC limited them inside the arc to just a 15-for-43 mark.  Xavier Mendez led the Anchormen with 16 points and nine rebounds, but was limited to 5-for-18 from the field.  CJ Wilson (4-9 FG, 4-7 3-PT) and Loudon Chupas (5-13 FG, 1-1 3-PT, 2-2 FT) added 13 points apiece, with Chupas grabbing six rebounds and swiping five steals.

KSC is 9-3 at Spaulding Gymnasium this season and improved to 23-9 against RIC on their home court all-time.  The Owls have won 13 of the last 15 in the series overall.

None of that will matter come Tuesday night (February 24), when the teams meet for a rematch in the same place in the Little East Conference quarterfinals.  Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.  It will be the tenth meeting between the two teams in the LEC tournament all-time, with the last an 83-68 KSC victory in the 2024 semifinals in Keene.  The winner will advance to take on No. 2 seed University of Massachusetts-Boston on the road in the semifinals Thursday night.  The other quarterfinal will see No. 5 seed Eastern Connecticut State University (who beat Plymouth State University 79-69 but were going to have their fate decided by the KSC/RIC and WestConn/UMD games regardless of the result) travel to face No. 4 seed University of Southern Maine.  Those two teams also split, with Eastern losing in Gorham 81-70 before winning at home 88-85 earlier this month.  KSC's win today avenged an earlier 72-63 loss at the Murray Center in which they shot only 34 percent, were 6-for-29 from three, and 9-of-17 at the foul line.