MIAMI -- The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team scored six straight points inside the final 72 seconds to take a one-point lead, but Marietta College went the length of the floor in the final 10.5 seconds to score an unmolested, game-winning layup as the Pioneers remained unbeaten with a 79-78 victory Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Gym on the campus of the Florida Christian School.

In a battle of ranked teams, No. 24 Marietta (11-0) led by five points with 1:12 left before No. 19 Eastern (8-2) surged ahead to take the lead, 78-77, on junior guard Trachone Preston's (Enfield) backdoor layup with 10.5 seconds left. Following a timeout, Marietta inbounded the ball under its own basket and raced unobstructed down the middle of the floor, laying in the winning basket. Preston's potential game-winning runner in the lane bounced off the back iron and sophomore forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) got a hand on the rebound as time expired.

With Eastern trailing and pressing in the final seconds, junior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) stole the ball in the paint and laid it in with 33 seconds left to pull the Warriors to within one, 77-76. Lindo then drew a charging call near mid court off the Warriors' trapping press to return possession to Eastern with 25.3 seconds left and set up Preston's go-ahead bucket with 10.5 seconds remaining.

Preston moved to within five points of 1,000 in his career with a team-high 23 points for Eastern, with sophomore guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) adding 22 and Leumene 11.

In the first meeting between the programs, Marietta stopped Eastern's five-game winning streak.

Since 2012-13, Eastern has lost five games in Florida by a total of ten points, three by one point.

Eastern faces Messiah College Wednesday at noon. The Falcons (7-3), who edged UMass Dartmouth, 85-82, earlier Tuesday, defeated the Warriors two years ago in Miami, 72-71, in overtime.