Box Score KEENE, N.H. – Rolling up an early lead has been one of the keys to the success of the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team in recent years. Tuesday night against Little East Conference challenger Keene State College, the Warriors moved out to a 20-plus point halftime lead for the sixth time this year in cruising to a 95-71 victory at Spaulding Gymnasium.
The conference's top-ranked offensive team, Keene (12-3, 4-2 LEC) could not get its offense in gear against the conference's second-ranked defense, becoming Eastern's (14-3, 6-0 LEC) 12th opponent failing to reach 30 points in the first half as Eastern ran away to a 59-28 halftime advantage. The Warriors won their 25th straight conference regular-season game after handing the Owls their first New England loss at Spaulding Gym in eight games.
Recording its highest point total against a New England opponent this year, Eastern won its fourth straight and is 6-1 in its last seven games. The Warriors have won seven of their last eight against Keene and have not lost a regular-season game at Spaulding Gym in six years to Keene, ranked seven points behind No. 2 Eastern in the LEC pre-season poll.
Eastern remains a game up on Rhode Island College, which turned back visiting Western Connecticut, 67-59, Tuesday night. Keene drops into a two-way tie for third place with UMass Dartmouth, an 85-75 winner over visiting UMass Boston Tuesday. For the second straight time, Eastern was the only visiting team to win in conference competition.
Coming off the second lowest-scoring game of his 75-game career, junior guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) responded with a game-high 23 points and career-tying seven assists against Keene to pace five starters in double figures. Senior forward Brandon Yarborough (Stamford) followed with a career-high 19 points (7-of-9 from the floor) and season-highs of nine rebounds and five assists, sophomore forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) and freshman guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) adding 14 and junior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) 12 points and five assists. After having a 22-game streak of three-point field goals halted Saturday in a win at the University of Southern Maine, Preston had two against Keene.
In the first half, Eastern shot 59 percent from the floor, limiting Keene to 28.1 percent and forcing 11 Keene turnovers. Preston (14 points) and Yarborough (13) led the first-half onslaught, combing to sink 11 of 15 field goals, with Preston adding six assists.
The game featured the No. 3 and 4-ranked scorers in the conference in Keene senior guard Tom Doyle (19.4 ppg.) and Preston (18.4). Preston eclipsed his season average with his game-high total while Doyle finished with nine point point (he had four points on 1-for-6 field goal shooting in the first half). Seven-foot senior center Nate Howard -- averaging 14.7 points and 10.5 rebounds (second-best in the LEC) for Keene -- was held scoreless from the floor and had four rebounds in 20 minutes.
Eastern hosts Rhode Island College Saturday at 3 p.m.
