diff --git a/src/main/java/dev/morling/onebrc/CalculateAverage_ebarlas.java b/src/main/java/dev/morling/onebrc/CalculateAverage_ebarlas.java
index c1ca6fa..87bba12 100644
--- a/src/main/java/dev/morling/onebrc/CalculateAverage_ebarlas.java
+++ b/src/main/java/dev/morling/onebrc/CalculateAverage_ebarlas.java
@@ -32,11 +32,10 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
 
     private static final Arena ARENA = Arena.global();
 
-    private static final int MAX_KEY_SIZE = 100;
+    private static final int MAX_KEY_SIZE = 104; // 4 additional bytes to allow for single-int overflow due to padding
     private static final int MAX_VAL_SIZE = 5; // -dd.d
     private static final int MAX_LINE_SIZE = MAX_KEY_SIZE + MAX_VAL_SIZE + 2; // key, semicolon, val, newline
-    private static final int HASH_FACTOR = 433;
-    private static final int HASH_TBL_SIZE = 32_767; // range of allowed hash values, inclusive
+    private static final int HASH_TBL_SIZE = 131_071; // range of allowed hash values, inclusive
 
     private static final Unsafe UNSAFE = makeUnsafe();
 
@@ -182,7 +181,6 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
         long lineStart = cursor; // start of key in segment used for footer calc
         long limit = ms.address() + (complete ? ms.byteSize() : ms.byteSize() - MAX_LINE_SIZE); // stop short of longest line, sweep up at the end
         while (cursor < limit) { // one line per iteration
-            lineStart = cursor; // preserve line start
             int keyHash = 0; // key hash code
             long keyAddr = keyBaseAddr; // address for next int
             int keyArrLen = 0; // number of key 4-byte ints
@@ -196,6 +194,7 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
                 b2 = (byte) ((n >> 16) & 0xFF);
                 b3 = (byte) ((n >> 24) & 0xFF);
                 if (b0 == ';') { // ...;1.1
+                    UNSAFE.putInt(keyAddr, 0); // always pad with extra int to facilitate 8-byte aligned comparisons
                     keyLastBytes = 4;
                     b0 = b1;
                     b1 = b2;
@@ -205,10 +204,10 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
                 }
                 else if (b1 == ';') { // ...a;1.1
                     int k = n & 0xFF;
-                    UNSAFE.putInt(keyAddr, k);
+                    UNSAFE.putLong(keyAddr, k); // pad with extra int for comparison alignment
                     keyLastBytes = 1;
                     keyArrLen++;
-                    keyHash = HASH_FACTOR * keyHash + b0;
+                    keyHash += k;
                     b0 = b2;
                     b1 = b3;
                     b2 = (byte) (UNSAFE.getByte(cursor++) & 0xFF);
@@ -217,10 +216,10 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
                 }
                 else if (b2 == ';') { // ...ab;1.1
                     int k = n & 0xFFFF;
-                    UNSAFE.putInt(keyAddr, k);
+                    UNSAFE.putLong(keyAddr, k); // pad with extra int for comparison alignment
                     keyLastBytes = 2;
                     keyArrLen++;
-                    keyHash = HASH_FACTOR * (HASH_FACTOR * keyHash + b0) + b1;
+                    keyHash += k;
                     b0 = b3;
                     b1 = (byte) (UNSAFE.getByte(cursor++) & 0xFF);
                     b2 = (byte) (UNSAFE.getByte(cursor++) & 0xFF);
@@ -229,10 +228,10 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
                 }
                 else if (b3 == ';') { // ...abc;1.1
                     int k = n & 0xFFFFFF;
-                    UNSAFE.putInt(keyAddr, k);
+                    UNSAFE.putLong(keyAddr, k); // pad with extra int for comparison alignment
                     keyLastBytes = 3;
                     keyArrLen++;
-                    keyHash = HASH_FACTOR * (HASH_FACTOR * (HASH_FACTOR * keyHash + b0) + b1) + b2;
+                    keyHash += k;
                     n = UNSAFE.getInt(cursor);
                     cursor += 4;
                     b0 = (byte) (n & 0xFF);
@@ -245,9 +244,10 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
                     UNSAFE.putInt(keyAddr, n);
                     keyArrLen++;
                     keyAddr += 4;
-                    keyHash = HASH_FACTOR * (HASH_FACTOR * (HASH_FACTOR * (HASH_FACTOR * keyHash + b0) + b1) + b2) + b3;
+                    keyHash += n;
                 }
             }
+            keyHash ^= keyHash >>> 13;
             var idx = keyHash & HASH_TBL_SIZE;
             var st = stats[idx];
             if (st == null) { // nothing in table, eagerly claim spot
@@ -281,6 +281,7 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
             st.max = Math.max(st.max, val);
             st.sum += val;
             st.count++;
+            lineStart = cursor; // preserve line start
         }
         return lineStart - ms.address();
     }
@@ -289,21 +290,15 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
         if (len1 != len2) {
             return false;
         }
-        if (len1 == 2) {
+        if (len1 <= 2) {
             return UNSAFE.getLong(key1) == UNSAFE.getLong(key2);
         }
-        if (len1 == 3) {
-            return UNSAFE.getLong(key1) == UNSAFE.getLong(key2) && UNSAFE.getInt(key1 + 8) == UNSAFE.getInt(key2 + 8);
-        }
-        if (len1 == 1) {
-            return UNSAFE.getInt(key1) == UNSAFE.getInt(key2);
-        }
-        if (len1 == 4) {
+        if (len1 <= 4) {
             return UNSAFE.getLong(key1) == UNSAFE.getLong(key2) && UNSAFE.getLong(key1 + 8) == UNSAFE.getLong(key2 + 8);
         }
-        for (int i = 0; i < len1; i++) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < len1; i += 2) {
             var offset = i << 2;
-            if (UNSAFE.getInt(key1 + offset) != UNSAFE.getInt(key2 + offset)) {
+            if (UNSAFE.getLong(key1 + offset) != UNSAFE.getLong(key2 + offset)) {
                 return false;
             }
         }
@@ -324,7 +319,7 @@ public class CalculateAverage_ebarlas {
     }
 
     private static Stats newStats(long keyAddr, int keyLen, int keyLastBytes, int hash) {
-        var bytes = keyLen << 2;
+        var bytes = (keyLen + 1) << 2; // include overflow chunk
         long k = UNSAFE.allocateMemory(bytes);
         UNSAFE.copyMemory(keyAddr, k, bytes);
         return new Stats(k, keyLen, keyLastBytes, hash);