Box Score WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team shot 71 percent from the floor in the second half and pulled away for its 23rd straight Little East Conference regular-season victory, 86-66, over the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Tuesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
In a battle of the lone remaining undefeated teams in the conference, Eastern (12-3, 4-0 LEC) defeated UMass Dartmouth (7-7, 3-1 LEC) for the 11th straight time. The win was the 200th for 13th-year Eastern head coach Bill Geitner (200-146), who has led the Warriors to five straight 20-win seasons and last year's LEC regular-season title as the first team to win all 14 of its regular-season conference games.
Eastern led for all but 54 seconds in the game, moving out to a double-digit lead six minutes into the second half and maintaining that double-digit lead the rest of the way. Junior guard Michael-Thomas Sciro (Westerly, RI) put the nails in the coffin when he swished consecutive three-point field goals 30 seconds apart to boost Eastern's lead to 16, 70-54, with 6:29 remaining.
At left: Trachone Preston is presented with a commemorative ball in recognition of his 1,000th career point before the game by head coach Bill Geitner, who was presented with his 200th career coaching win two hours later. (Photo by Liam Murphy)
Eastern junior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) was able to effectively shut down LEC scoring leader Jordan Rezendes, limiting the 6-foot-2 junior inch guard to one first-half basket on only four shots as Eastern held a five-point, 32-27 lead at halftime. With a game-high 18 points, Rezendes finished just six points shy of his season scoring average, but did the majority of his scoring after the Warriors had opened up a comfortable lead.
The Warriors out-rebounded the Corsairs by 17 and equaled their second-lowest turnover total of the year, with eight.
Junior guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) led a balanced Eastern attack of five double-digit scorers, with 16 points, with freshman guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) added 13 points, sophomore forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) 12, Leumene 11 and Sciro ten. Brown had his second double-double by adding a game-high ten boards. Preston had six assists and freshman guard Collin Jordan (Cheshire) came off the bench to contribute a career-high eight points and five assists in 17 minutes.
Behind Rezendes, sophomore guard Jon Robinson came off the bench for 13 points and five rebounds, junior center Wale Abraham adding 12 points and senior guard Josh Castillo ten points.
Eastern visits the University of Southern Maine Saturday at 3 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.
