Brito leads offensive explosion as Keene State men's basketball sprints past Rutgers-Newark

Nov. 12—On what would've been his dad's 51st birthday, sophomore Octavio Brito balled out.

Brito scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Keene State men's basketball team to a 102-66 rout over Rutgers-Newark Friday night at Spaulding Gym.

"It was a special day," Brito said. "It means everything. My mom and my stepdad all came out. My teammates all showed up for my dad too, they were all playing for it. Just want to thank all my teammates and coaches."

Brito's 32 points came in just 13 minutes of action. The sophomore guard was as efficient as you can be on the court, shooting 12-for-14 from the floor, including 6-of-7 from beyond the arc. His six three-pointers ties a career high.

"He said this was a day we really wanted to play well," said Keene State head coach Ryan Cain. "I told him, 'Don't overthink that, make simple plays,' And to his credit, he did not force a single one of his shots. I think he's figuring out how to be our go-to guy on the perimeter. ... Tonight, he just let the game come to him."

So, when did he realize, he was going to have the game of his life?

"When I woke up," Brito joked, quoting a viral postgame interview by the Milwaukee Bucks' Jevon Carter from Wednesday.

Brito wasn't the only efficient offensive piece for the Owls Friday night. The team shot 55.4 percent from the field (41-for-74), including a scorching 63.9 percent in the first half (23-for-36).

"We just flow," Brito said. "That's what our offense is about. Whatever shot happens, happens and you just try to get the great shot. A lot of the shots I took were great today."

The team started out 8-for-8 from the floor in the first four minutes of the game — including 10 points from Brito in that span — and jumped out to a 20-4 lead right out of the gate.

At the second media timeout, it was 30-10.

At the third, it was 44-14.

At the final media timeout of the first half, the Owls led 53-22.

By halftime, it was 58-32.

Keene State started out the second half on a 9-0 run in the first 2:15 — including five quick points from Brito — and they were off and running from there.

Brito also contributed with five rebounds and two steals.

It maybe wasn't the offensive night senior Jeff Hunter is used to — although he still scored 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting — but he contributed mightily to the strong defensive performance with five blocks, two steals and seven rebounds.

The Keene State defense held the Scarlet Raiders to 37.9 percent shooting (25-for-66). Levi Holton led the way for Rutgers-Newark with 15 points.

Along with Brito and Hunter, juniors Nate Siow (15 points) and Mason Jean Baptiste (10 points) scored in double digits. Jean Baptiste hit a three-pointer on the first possession of the game to seemingly kickstart the offense.

And it just never stopped.

"Our process is about sustaining that energy," Brito said. "We know we can get there, but how do we sustain it? And today we showed that we can sustain the energy for the whole game. Even when the second lineup came in. Those guys showed up to play, and I'm proud of them too."

It's the second time in two games this season that Keene State has had four players score double digits.

"We didn't play the full 40 the other night [against Westfield State]," Cain said. "I thought we lost a little focus, but I didn't think we did that tonight. We sustained it for the full 40. No matter who was in, we played at a high level ... on both ends of the floor."

Keene State (2-0) heads to Crawfordsville, Ind., for the Great Lakes Invitational, where they will face Maryville, Tenn., on Friday Nov. 18 at 5:30 p.m. and No. 17 Marietta on Saturday Nov. 19 at 5:30 p.m.

Marietta was a Final Four team in last year's Division III NCAA tournament. Maryville was picked to win its conference this season, while Marietta was slated in the preseason poll to finish second in its conference.

"To play those quality teams on top of playing back-to-back is really an awesome opportunity for our program," Cain said. "Those programs get some national recognition. ... We want to go out there and play well. Ideally, we're going out there to win two games, but we don't want to make it about the score. We want to make it about the constant improvement and just trying to get better. It's a great opportunity to play some of the best and see where we stand and what we can work on."

The Owls will be back at Spaulding Gym on Saturday Nov. 26 against MIT for a 1 p.m. tip-off.

Chris Detwiler can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1411, or cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @Chris_Detwiler