Keene State Rallies to Victory to Advance to Title Game
KEENE, N.H. - The No. 2 seed Keene State University defeated the No. 6 seed Rutgers University-Camden in the 2026 ECAC Division III Men’s Basketball Championship semifinals this afternoon. The Owls are now 19-11 on the season, while the Scarlet Raptors finish the year at 14-12.
In less than three minutes, Rutgers-Camden took an early 11-2 lead to open the game. Coming out of a timeout at 15:44 on the clock, the Scarlet Raptors hit back-to-back threes from Eric Benjamin to push their lead to 17-2. The Owls cut into the lead as they used a 9-2 run to trail 19-11 with just under 11 minutes left in the half. For the next five minutes, the teams exchanged baskets with Rutgers-Camden holding a 25-19 lead. The Scarlet Raptors for the rest of the half were able to keep Keene State at arm's reach as they took a 35-27 lead into the halftime.
Coming out of the locker room to start the second half, Keene State strung together an 8-0 run to tie the game at 35 with 15:20 on the clock. The Scarlet Raptors retook the lead when Ryan Senft hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 36-35, and his teammate Benjamin hit another three to push the lead to 39-35. Keene State’s Jordan Cooper was able to cut the lead to two when he laid one in at the 14
th-minute mark to have the Owls trail 39-37. Like before, Rutgers-Camden got some breathing room as it turned to Benjamin, as this time he drained three straight foul shots to make it 42-37, 13:18 left in the game. The Owls answered when Kareem Porter scored the next four points to make it a one-point game before Isaac Ogutuga drained a turnaround jumper to give Keene State its first lead of the game at 43-42 with nine and a half on the clock.
The Owls, after that, used a 10-6 run to push their lead to 53-46 with 4:58 left in the game. The Scarlet Raptors wasted no time in cutting the lead to one as they put together a 6-0 run to trail 53-52. Keene State closed out the game on a 10-7 run to win 63-59.
Keene State dominated Rutgers-Camden on points off turnovers, winning the battle 20 to 9 and bench points 27 to 12.
The Scarlet Raptors controlled the glass 43 to 37.
Benjamin led Rutgers-Camden in points with 17 as he was 5 of 17 from the floor, while his teammate Ryan Senft finished with a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Gardy Etienne tallied a game-high 12 boards for the Scarlet Raptors.
Cooper led the Owls in points with 16 while grabbing eight rebounds and going 7 of 17 from the field.
Gabe Marquis recorded 13 points and went 2 of 5 from three-point range. Teammate Denis Wainaina finished with a team-high nine boards and added four points.
Keene State will face New Jersey City University in the ECAC Men’s Basketball Championship game next Saturday.