Box Score WESTFIELD, Mass. – Tournament competition against Western New England University tends to bring out the best in the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team.
Having beaten the Golden Bears in its own tip-off tournament in the two most previous meetings, Eastern rolled to an 80-51 victory over the Golden Bears in the consolation game of the Rick Martin Holiday Inn Tournament consolation game Saturday afternoon at the Woodward Center.
Senior guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) poured in 17 points and contributed five rebounds, and four assists as the Warriors salvaged one win this weekend after opening the season Friday night with a 60-50 loss to WPI in a battle of perennial 20-game winners and NCAA tournament participants.
Eastern, ranked 14th nationally in the pre-season, wiped the Golden Bears' early 9-2 lead with a 26-7 run to close the half for a 13-point, 38-25 lead at the break. The Warriors run was keyed by back-to-back three-pointers from Preston that tied the game at 18, the All-Little East Conference player and 1,000-point scorer sinking three three-pointers and scoring 11 points in the half. Sophomore guard Collin Jordan (Cheshire) registered four assists during the run, collapsing the defense with probing drives and allowing Preston to move to the off guard position and take on more of a scoring role. Jordan finished the game with six assists and just one turnover.
The Warriors followed the slow start to open the game with a hot seven-point run to kick off the second half that salted away the team's ninth victory in the last 11 meetings with Western New England. The streak extended their lead to 20 before WNE sophomore Keegan Dudeck broke the run with a three-pointer. Dudeck scored seven points in the second half for the Golden Bears.
The Warriors used strong interior defense to fuel fast break chances and build a 30-point lead in the second half. Eastern held WNE to 28 percent shooting for the game.
Eastern senior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while senior guard Michael-Thomas Sciro (Westerly, RI) added 14 points and seven rebounds. Jordan and Sciro gave the Warriors a needed boost in the backcourt off the bench, each logging 23 minutes. Nine different players pulled down at least one offensive rebound, the Warriors nearly doubling WNE's production on the offensive glass and providing Eastern with a +14 point advantage on second-chance tries.
In the second half -- when the Warriors outscored the Golden Bears, 42-26, 11 different players contributed between two and seven points, with Leumene grabbing six rebounds and first-year sophomore transfer Jacob Collins (Bristol) pulling down five rebounds in eight minutes.
In two tournament games, Preston totaled a team-high 34 points. He was 12-of-27 from the floor (4-of-10 from "three") and 6-of-8 from the foul line. Freshman guard Tyrell Arnum (Bloomfield), who started Friday night's season-opener, added 17 points, as did Leumene. Leumene was the top rebounder with 15, Preston adding 12 and Sciro and junior forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) adding nine each. Lindo blocked four shots and had four steals.
WPI, which has qualified for eight of the last ten NCAA tournaments, downed host Westfield State, 59-50, to win the tournament title.
Eastern faces Johnson & Wales University in the opening game of the Ramapo College Roadrunner Classic Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
