KEENE, N.H. – Jordan Cooper matched his Keene State career-high with 38 points including a show-stopping dunk in the second half and rookie Allyn Wright continued his impressive late-season burst with 20 big points as the Owl men's basketball team ran their Little East Conference tournament win streak to 10 games, running away from Rhode Island College 101-81 in the quarterfinal round at Spaulding Gymnasium Wednesday night.

Highlights
Postgame Interview (Coach Enright)
Postgame Interview (Jordan Cooper/Allyn Wright)

The Owls (16-10) led 47-44 at halftime and then sizzled in the second half, shooting 55 percent including making 12 of 15 shots in an eye-catching 30-11 blitz over a 7:22 span that began with just over nine minutes remaining as KSC turned a three-point game into a 101-79 runaway.  Cooper and Wright had 11 points apiece during the surge – each matching RIC's total in that span as the Owls held the Anchormen (11-15) to just 3-of-9 from the floor.  Cooper blew the roof off Spaulding Gymnasium on several occasions, and one could make a case his explosive dunk with 13:13 left and KSC down three was the catalyst that propelled the Owls to their 16th win over the past 23 games and their eighth straight at Spaulding Gymnasium.  The Bridgewater College (Va.) transfer who played two years for now-KSC head coach Steve Enright there was also the one to begin the game-breaking run with two triples in 30 seconds that ballooned KSC's lead to 79-70 with 7:58 left.  Wright, who had a stellar game in his own right, drove to the hoop for a layup with 5:49 to go to push KSC's lead to 12 and then might have been the finisher, knifing to the cup again a little over a minute later for a 14-point lead and draining a triple with 3:59 left to make it 92-75.

It was a rare instance in which two teams played each other in consecutive games at the same venue, with KSC pounding RIC 90-69 on Senior Day Saturday to help push the Anchormen to the sixth seed.  The Owls led 44-30 at the break and were never seriously threatened in the second half, making 12 threes and shooting 50 percent after the break to roll to a win, leading by as many as 21.  RIC hung around far longer tonight and even led in the second half by as many as five but lost their 14th straight at Spaulding Gymnasium.

Saturday proved to be the Leo Chaikin show, as the reigning LEC Player of the Week made nine of 11 from the field in his 22-point effort to go along with 10 boards.  Mitch Shettles also had a double-double four days ago.

Call tonight the Jordan Cooper and Allyn Wright show, with the duo combining for 58 points on 21-for-38 shooting from the field.  But the always-steady Chaikin continued his stellar play with 19 points on ho-hum 8-of-10 from the floor to go along with eight rebounds and three assists as KSC put together their second-best shooting effort from the floor on the season, finishing 38-for-74 (51.4 percent).  The Owls also made double-digit threes, finishing 12-for-26 as they made at least 10 for the sixth time in the last eight games after five straight under that mark.  KSC is 10-2 when making double-digit threes this season.

In some ways tonight ended up like the Saturday game in the end, but not to start, as the Anchormen took a six-point lead (14-8) less than five minutes in on Xavier Mendez's three and led by eight two minutes later.  After leading 5-4, KSC's next lead did not come until Shettles buried a three to make it 30-29 with 6:53 to go in the opening half.  It seemed the Owls were going to run away then, rattling off a 14-0 run to flip a 33-30 deficit into a 44-33 lead with 2:58 to go, but RIC came up with a critical responding surge and outscored the Owls 11-3 over the rest of the half to keep it a game at the break.

Xavier Mendez poured in 25 points for RIC on 8-of-15 shooting while Loudon Chupas had 19 points (6-12 FG) and 10 boards as the visitors again committed only nine turnovers and shot 45.5 percent from the field.  But it was too much Cooper, too much Wright, and too much of KSC on the glass (44-30 with 14 offensive rebounds) to overcome.  The Owls also had 18 assists on 38 made baskets, with Wright and Ryan Blakey each dishing out five assists.  Chaikin and Denis Wainaina each grabbed eight boards.  Wainaina, the national leader in blocks, added four more to his total.
Cooper finished 14-for-23 from the field, 5-of-8 from three, and 5-of-6 at the foul line in his masterpiece of a performance.  In Wright's, he was 7-for-15 from the field, 3-of-4 from three, and 3-of-4 at the foul line while dishing out five assists and not committing a turnover.  In his last three games, the freshman Connecticut native has 35 points on 12-for-23 shooting and 14 assists to just three turnovers.

The Owls, who have already set a league record with four consecutive LEC tournament championships and are looking to make it five, will now hit the road for a Friday night semifinal at No. 2 seed University of Massachusetts-Boston (16-9, 12-4 LEC) with tip-off at 7:00 p.m.  The Beacons won both regular season meetings, 74-69 in Keene and 93-80 in Boston, but are 4-3 since their last win over KSC on January 24.  RIC, who is 29-41 all-time against the Owls, ends their season with seven consecutive losses and was 4-9 on the road, dropping their last four away from the Murray Center after getting wins at Eastern Connecticut State University and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth that helped get them into the tournament.  Eastern upset No. 4 seed University of Southern Maine 93-83 in Gorham tonight – just USM's second home loss (after they also lost to KSC) – and will travel to face top seeded Western Connecticut State University Friday night.