ONEONTA, N.Y. – Guards Kevin Leumene (Stamford) and Trachone Preston (Enfield) combined for 54 points on 17-of-24 shooting from the floor when the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team rebounded from its first loss of the year 18 hours earlier with a 101-78 victory over SUNY Oneonta Saturday at the Mayor's Cup, hosted by Hartwick College at Lambros Arena.

Playing its fifth game in eight days, Eastern (4-1)  shot 65.6 percent from the floor in rolling up an 11-point, 48-37 halftime against Oneonta (2-1), and tacked on 53 points on 51.9 percent shooting in the second half en route to a split at the Mayor's Cup.

Oneonta had opened its season Tuesday at Williamstown, MA with a 74-68 upset of No. 5 nationally-ranked Williams College, which lost in last year's NCAA Division III national championship game.

After going 1-for-10 in Friday night's 74-71 loss to host Hartwick College two nights after netting a career-high 31, Leumene led all scorers with 29 points against Oneonta, connecting on ten of 12 field goals and all seven of his free throws in addition to grabbing a career-high nine rebounds. Preston followed with 25 points and sophomore forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) 17 points, six rebounds, five blocks, four assists and three steals in 36 minutes. Preston canned seven of 12 field goals and was 7-of-8 from the foul line as the Warriors succeeded on 22 of 25 free throws.  Junior guard Michael-Thomas Sciro (Westerly, RI) chipped in a career-high ten points in 15 minutes off the bench.

The final 23-point margin was the largest lead of the game for Eastern, which got 18 points from Leumene in the second half to maintain a double-digit lead. The Warriors took command six minutes into the game, getting points from four different players – Preston, Sciro, sophomore center Brandon Kuczenski (Naugatuck) and freshman guard Collin Jordan (Cheshire) – to rip off a run of 11 straight points and build an eight-point, 25-17 lead over five minutes. In that span, Sciro and Jordan contributed steals, Kuczenski a blocked shot and Jordan and freshman guard Tarchee Brown (Manchester) rebounds.

The Warriors put the game away with a 9-3 run midway through the second half that expanded a 12-point lead to 18, 76-58 with just under seven minutes left.  Lindo, Sciro, Leumene and seinor forward Brandon Yarborough (Stamford) all chipped in points in that spurt.

Junior forward Mikey McElroy and senior point guard Frankie Kelly combined for 44 points for Oneonta, which was outrebounded 41-27 by Eastern and missed 12 of 16 three-point field goals. Eastern was 9-for-18 from three-point range.

Eastern hosts Connecticut College Monday at 7:30 p.m.