DUDLEY, Mass. – What began as a breeze turned into a battle for the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team, which finally used a 10-2 run in the late going to post an 83-68 non-conference victory over Nichols College Wednesday night at the Athletic and Recreation Center.

At right: Kevin Leumene (23), 24 minutes, 0 turnovers off the bench

Eastern (2-1) kept Nichols (1-1) from scoring from the floor for the first nine minutes in racing to a 15-2 lead, but needed a late surge to put away the Bison in its first road contest of the season. Leading by only four points with just under seven minutes left, the Warriors outscored their hosts 19-8 the rest of the way.

With Eastern up by seven with six minutes left, the Warriors kept the hosts from scoring a field goal for another long stretch (four minutes), using a 15-1 surge to make it 79-61. Senior forward Mike Garrow (Terryville) got things going by beating the Nichols defense with a baseline drive. He then rebounded a Nichols missed free throw on the other end of the floor, and sophomore guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) nailed a jumper to push the lead to double digits at 71-61 with 5:18 left. Junior forward Brandon Yarborough (Stamford), who played 25 minutes with 13 stitches in his right hand, then swished his first three-point field goal of the season on a pass from Garrow to extend the lead to 13, with a little over four minutes left.

Senior guard Brian Salzillo (North Haven), who extended his three-point streak to 38 games against the Bison, then swished his sixth and final shot from behind the arc, then stole the ball to set up freshman Hugh Lindo's (Enfield) uncontested dunk that made it an 18-point lead, 79-61, with 3:28 left.

In holding Nichols 23 points below its season average, Eastern defeated the Bison for the seventh straight time in this series.

Garrow  recorded a double-double with 17 points and 17 rebounds to lead five Warriors in double-digits.  Salzillo poured in a game-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Eastern shot a scorching 52 percent from the field and made 50 percent of its three-point attempts (8-of-16). Yarborough contributed 12 points and five rebounds, Lindo 11 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks and Preston 11 points and seven assists.

Consecutive fast break layups by sophomore Jalen Hurst to open the second half gave Nichols its first lead since the opening minute 19:23 of the first half, 33-32, but Eastern responded with a 13-2 run to move ahead 45-35 following a three-pointer from Salzillo.

The Bison fought back and cut the Warriors lead to one on a pair of free throws from Horning at the 10:08 mark, but a three-point play from sophomore  Preston 90 seconds later pushed the Warriors lead back to eight at 59-51. Sophomore Irving Eggleston  made a layup with 6:49 to play to bring Nichols to within four (64-60), but the Warriors responded with their 19-8 run to close the game.  

Junior Matt Langadas  scored a team-high 16 points for Nichols, which was coming off Friday's 91-83 mastery of Lasell College. Senior forward Ryan Sheehan, who chalked up 37 points in that opening contest, managed only nine points on 2-for-13 shooting against Eastern. Senior Sam Horning added 15 points – including three 3-pointers – for the Bison, who were outrebounded 48-37 and shot just 50 percent (12-of-24) from the foul line.  

Eastern faces Catholic University Friday at 6 p.m. in an opening game of Manhattanville College's AJ Buchanan Classic.