Box Score WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior guards Brian Salzillo (North Haven) and Mike Garrow (Terryville) and sophomore guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) combined for 76 points to lift the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team to a 90-79 victory over Worcester State University in the opening round of the Eastern Tip-Off Tournament Friday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
At right: Mike Garrow (Photo by Liam Murphy)
Eastern (1-0) moves into Saturday's 3 p.m. final for 29th time in 33 years, facing Purchase College (1-0) for the second time in four years. The Panthers dumped Becker College, 58-45, in Friday's second semifinal. Worcester (0-1) meets Becker (0-1) in Saturday's 1 p.m. consolation.
Purchase won the title in their last tournament appearance in 2010, holding off Eastern's 50-point second half for an 80-79 win.
Eastern allowed the first seven points of the game but bounced back with a 13-4 run that lifted the Warriors into their first lead, 15-14 eight minutes into action.
Leading by 11 at halftime, Eastern moved out to its largest lead, 64-46, five minutes into the second half.
With Eastern leading by nine late in the game, Salzillo scored ten straight points on consecutive three-point field goals, a fadeaway bucket from the baseline and two free throws to push the Warriors into a 13-point, 85-72 lead with two minutes left.
Salzillo led all players with 31 points, sinking seven of 12 from three-point range. Garrow was 9-for-10 from the floor and finished with 25 and Preston sank nine of ten free throws on the way to 20 points. Garrow also had six assists and senior guard Justin Nunez (Hartford) five. First-year junior forward Leroy Haye (Delray Beach, FL) grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Trailing by 18, the Lancers made a run early in the second half, slicing the Eastern lead in half to pull to within eight, 66-58, midway through the stanza. Freshman center Paul Brooks (Arlington, MA) got it going with a hook shot and later had a putback, while junior guard Jake Ratcliffe (Northbridge, MA) swished a three and junior guard Brendan Rios (Easthampton, MA) nailed a jumper from the corner and converted a steal.
At that point, sophomore guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) hit one free throw, and Salzillo a three-pointer to restore the lead to 12, 70-58.
Junior forward Brandon Yarborough (Stamford) left the game with 6:45 left in the first half. He sustained a cut finger which required stitches after blocking a shot and grabbing the rebounds. In 12 minutes, he had five rebounds, three blocked shots, two assists and two points.
Senior forward Dane Jobst led all players in the game with 17 rebounds to go along with 19 points for Worcester, with Rios dropping in a team-high 22 points and senior for4ward Jeremy Ross 13 points. Rios and Ross were a combined 16-of-21 from the floor.
Purchase College 58, Becker College 45
Becker College shot just 24 percent from the floor and scored only 17 points in the first half as Purchase College went on to the 58-45 victory. Purchase (1-0) has now won four of five games in three years in the tournament.
Despite having returned only four letterwinners from last year's NCAA tournament qualifier, Purchase never trailed Friday. The Panthers scored eight consecutive points to assume an early 12-4 lead, and after the Hawks whittled the lead to two, Purchase held Becker scoreless from the floor over the final seven minutes, using a 9-1 run to post a ten-point, 27-27 halftime lead.
Senior guard Andre Nixon, the team's top returning scorer, tossed in 15 of his team's first-half points and finished with a game-high 31. He was 11-for-16 from the floor, including 6-for-9 from three-point range, over 40 minutes.
Becker shot 52 percent from the floor following its dismal first-half showing and as able to cut a 17-point deficit to eight late in the game, but like the first half, went scoreless from the floor over the final four minutes. Nixon's three-point field goal with 2:45 left put the Panthers' lead at 11, 56-45.
Sophomore forward Scott Dulaire was Becker's only double-figure scorer, finishing with ten, while junior swingman Justin Person followed Nixon with 12 points for Purchase.
