Box Score WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team shot under 30 percent from the floor as WPI built an 11-point halftime lead on the way to a 60-50 victory over the Warriors in the opening round of the Wesfield State University Rick Martin Holiday Inn Express Tip-Off Tournament Friday night in the season opener for both teams at the Woodward Center.
Eastern, losing its opener for the first time under 14th-year head coach Bill Geitner, faces Western New England University in Saturday's consolation game at 1 p.m. WPI meets Westfield State in Saturday's 3 p.m. final. The host Owls routed Western New England, 71-55, in Friday's first semifinal.
WPI junior guard Sean Doncaster opened the game by swishing a three-pointer and while the Warriors were missing their first six shots and commiting a turnover on their first seven possession, the Engineers ran up a 7-0 lead. The Warriors never got closer than six the rest of the way.
With Eastern trailing by 11 at the half, six-foot-six inch freshman guard Tyrell Arnum (Bloomfield) twice hit jumpers in the opening minutes to clip WPI's lead under double digits, but a run of five straight points midway through the half pushed the Engineers' lead to 16, 47-31.
Eastern senior 1,000-point scorer Trachone Preston (Enfield), a guard, led all players with 17 points and topped the Warriors with seven rebounds, Arnum scoring ten points and grabbing five rebounds in a starting role in his collegiate debut.
WPI, like Eastern a 20-game winner and NCAA qualifier last year, got 15 points from Doncaster and ten points and ten rebounds from sophomore forward Aaron Todd.
The Warriors shot 29.5 percent from the floor (14.3 percent from three-point range) and made only 12 of 21 free throws.
