Box Score WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior forward Mike Garrow (Terryville) scored seven points in a late first-half 17-3 run – including the 1,000th of his career – as the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team remained undefeated in the Little East Conference with an 81-60 victory over the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
At right: Mike Garrow rises up in the first half for two of his game total of 16 points. (Photo courtesy of Cris Yarborough)
Playing its first home game in over a month, Eastern (9-4, 3-0 Little East) broke from a 23-all tie with 7:25 left in the first half by outscoring UMass Boston (5-6, 0-3 LEC) 17-3 over a span of five-and-a-half minutes to build a 14-point, 40-26 lead with 2:01 left. Garrow capped the run by reaching and eclipsing the 1,000-point plateau with a floater in the late.
In that scoring spurt, Garrow had a three-point play (dunk and free throw) after successive three-point field goals from sophomore guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) and senior guard Justin Nunez (Hartford) and after consecutive inside hoops from freshman forward Brendan Kuczenski (Naugatuck), Garrow hit a jumper, and after a UMass miss, concluded the run with his milestone basket.
At left: With this lane jumper with 2:01 left in the first half, Mike Garrow joined the 1,000-point club.
In helping Eastern down UMass for the ninth straight time, conference scoring leader Brian Salzillo (North Haven) led a three-point field goal parade (the team had a season-high 13 threes on 27 tries from long range to push its season percentage over 40.0 to 40.8) by connecting on seven of 14 attempts from behind the arc on the way to a game-high 22 points. In one of his finest all-around games, Garrow finished with 16 points, ten rebounds and a career-high eight assists -- many of those assists as the result of Salzillo's three-point prowess. Kuczenski tied his season high with 11 points to go along with a season-high nine rebounds and junior forward Brandon Yarborough (Stamford) added ten points and eight rebounds.
Freshman forward Alex Borofsky (Southington) had his first collegiate basket with a three-point field goal in the final minute.
Junior forward Carl Joseph, behind only Salzillo in scoring in the conference, led the Beacons with 19 points and grabbed six rebounds. He was 9-of-14 from the floor. Sophomore guard Omar Benabicha was UMass' other double-figure scorer, finishing with 11, while junior forward Gregory Young led UMass with eight rebounds.
Benabicha's layup with 7:25 left in the first half tied the game for the first and final time at 23-all before Preston and Nunez' three-point field goal sparked a run of nine straight points and the decisive 17-3 rush.
In addition to becoming the 28th 1,000-point scorer in the program's 74-year history, the 6-foot-4 inch Garrow becomes the fifth to reach that plateau under 12th-year head coach Bill Geitner. Previous players under Geitner to score 1,000 were Chris Robitaille last year, all-time scoring leader Nick Nedwick and Jamie Kohn in 2012, and all-time three-point recordholder Edwin Ortiz in 2010.
Eastern visits Massachusetts Dartmouth Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.
