Box Score GORHAM, Maine – Sophomore guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) scored a game-high 24 points and Eastern Connecticut State University shot over 50 percent from the floor in the second half to down the University of Southern Maine, 68-58, and clinch the first 14-game undefeated men' basketball regular season in the history of the Little East Conference Saturday afternoon at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.
At right: In the final regular-season game of his career, senior Justin Nunez played 22 minutes off the bench to help the Warriors limit Southern Maine to 58 points in the game.
A winner of 20 games for the fifth straight year, Eastern (20-5, 14-0 Little East) completed its seventh and final home-and-home conference sweep of the season by shaking free from a one-point halftime lead and defeat Southern Maine (7-18, 3-11 Little East) by ten points for the second time this year. Eastern has won five straight and 12 of its last 13.
This past week, No. 4 regionally-ranked Eastern had clinched its second regular-season conference title and No. 1 tournament seed in three years and will host No. 8 Massachusetts Boston in a first-round game Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. If it advances, Eastern will host the tournament semifinal and final Friday and Saturday at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium. Seventh-seeded Southern Maine visits defending tournament champion and No. 2 seeded Rhode Island College Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in a first-round game.
"This group of guys stand together," praised 12th-year head coach Bill Geitner after the Warriors closed out the unbeaten LEC regular season. "We've dealt with some adversity this year, but it hasn't seemed to get in the way for any of these guys. They've stayed together as a group, both on and off the court. They continue to believe in themselves and their teammates. That's the biggest factor that's led us to be pretty successful this year."
Now in its 28th year of sponsoring basketball, the Little East expanded to its current 14-game season 17 years ago. Three times, a team had gone 13-1, most recently last year by Rhode Island College, with Eastern spoiling its quest for perfection.
Leading by just one at halftime after being outrebounded by seven, Eastern never trailed in the second half, but was unable to extend the lead to double figures until Preston connected on his fourth and final three-point field goal from the top of the key to make it 56-46 with 7:34 left. With Eastern leading by seven, senior swingman Mike Garrow (Terryville) rebounded a missed Southern Maine field goal with 40.1 seconds left and sophomore guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) sank both ends of a one-and-one around a USM timeout to seal the victory with 36.5 seconds left.
"We got outrebounded and kind of outhustled in the first half," admitted Geitner afterward. "It's something we talked about at halftime and said 'that's not us'. I thought our guys did a much better job in the second 20 minutes.We had moments when we weren't great, but when it came down to it, we executed, and we definitely got some stops in the second half."
Preston scored all of his points from the floor with a 10-of-18 shooting performance. Garrow added 15 points, ten coming in the second half. He also shared game-high rebounding honors with eight. The pair combined for 39 of the team's scoring total. No other player had more than seven.
Ranked second nationally in three-point field goals, Eastern senior guard Brian Salzillo (North Haven) converted his first three-pointer in three weeks to tie the game at 20 with 6:05 left in the first half. Salzillo was playing limited minutes off the bench for the second straight game after missing four straight games with mono.
Senior guard Conor Sullivan – who scored his 1,000th career point two minutes into the game – led the Huskies with 17 points and eight rebounds, Tyler Penney adding 14 points and eight rebounds. The hosts shot just 38.7 percent from the floor, however, including 1-of-12 from three-point range.
