MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Close games have become the norm over the last five years when Eastern Connecticut State University and Wesleyan University meet on the basketball floor. So, too, have Cardinals' victories.

At right: Justin Nunez's seven assists against Wesleyan were a career high.

Tuesday was no exception when Wesleyan (10-10) dashed the seven-game winning streak of Eastern (15-5) by a slim margin of 68-62, becoming only the second home team this year to defeat the Warriors (No. 9 nationally-ranked Amherst being the other) in Eastern's final regular-season non-conference contest of the season.

With the exception of last year's  11-point victory at Geissler Gymnasium, Wesleyan's other four victories since 2009 have come by a combined total of 11 points (two by identical scores of 66-65).

Tuesday, sophomore Jack Mackey connected on his fourth three-pointer of the game, coming from the right side with 1:05 left, to break a 60-60 tie and propel Wesleyan to its fourth straight victory which have come on the heels of a five-game losing streak.

Mackey also was fouled on the play and converted the free throw to give the Cardinals a 64-60 edge.  Prior to that, Wesleyan and Eastern stayed within two points of each other throughout the final 17 minutes of the contest.  Eastern has its largest lead at 30-23 during the first half while the final score represented the biggest lead for Wesleyan in the contest.  

The final four points for Wesleyan in the game came at the line by sophomore BJ Davis, who extended his streak of consecutive free throws to 28 over the last four games.  The Warriors' last bucket came from senior guard Mike Garrow (Terryville), as he led all scorers in the contest with a season-high 26 points – three shy of his career high.  Sophomore guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) added 22 points for the visitors.  Senior point guard  Justin Nunez (Hartford) came off the bench to dish out a career-high seven assists in a career-high 26 minutes for Eastern, now 7-2 on its opponents' home court.

Mackey finished with 15 points for Wesleyan, going 4-for-6 on treys.  Freshman Harry Rafferty paced Wesleyan in scoring with 16 points while Davis chipped in with 14.  Freshman Joseph Kuo for the Cardinals and junior forward Brandon Yarborough  (Stamford) for the Warriors tied for game-high honors on the boards with nine rebounds each.

With the team playing without two starters, Preston and Garrow each netted all 40 minutes of action and combined for all but 14 of the team's points, with freshman post Brandon Kuczenski (Naugatuck) logging a season-high 34. Three bench players managed only two points in 36 minutes.

The win was the fourth in a row for Wesleyan this season and the fifth in a row for the Cardinals over the Warriors.  The teams have now met 27 times with Wesleyan holding an 18-9 edge in the series.  The teams have played each of the last 20 seasons and Wesleyan is 15-5 over the stretch.

Eastern  closes out the regular season with five Little East Conference games beginning Saturday at 3 p.m. at the University of Massachusetts Boston, seeking its third conference home-and-home series sweep in as many tries.

Wesleyan University Sports Information contributed to this game account.