Box Score MAHWAH, N.J. -- Senior guards Tom Garrick and Quarry Greenaway combined for 47 points to power the Johnson & Wales University to a 72-59 men's basketball victory over Eastern Connecticut State University in the first round of the Ramapo College Roadrunner Tournament Saturday evening at the Bradley Center.
At right: Tarchee Brown
Ranked 14th nationally in the pre-season, Eastern (1-2) commited 18 first-half turnovers and trailed by 12 at halftime before cutting the gap to four, 48-44, with a seven-point run with 11:14 left. Johnson & Wales (2-1) answered with a seven-point run of its own – capped by Garrick's three-point field goal to re-build an 11-point lead. The Warriors never got closer than seven the rest of the way.
Sophomore guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) led Eastern with 25 points (10-of-18 from the floor), junior forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) adding 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Senior guard Trachone Preston (Enfield), Eastern's scoring leader, was held to four points on free throws in the first half and totaled 11 points.
The Warriors turned the ball over only six times in the second half but managed only 18.2 percent shooting from behind the three-point line in the game and never led after the first seven minutes.
Down by 11, 48-37, Eastern made its run to cut the Wildcats' lead to four, 48-44, with 11 minutes left when senior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) contributed his first bucket of the night, Preston scored inside, and Brown connected on a three-pointer. Johnson & Wales, which never allowed Eastern to make a substantial run, got a three-pointer and free throw from Greenaway and a three-pointer from Garrick after an Eastern miss to resurrect an 11-point lead, 55-44.
Garrick had 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor in the first half en route to his game-high total of 28 points on 11-of-17 field goal shooting. Greenaway followed with 19 points and senior guard Clayton Roker chipped in ten points, the threesome combining for all but 15 of the Wildcats' points.
Eastern and the Wildcats were meeting for only the second time, the first since Eastern's 85-64 home victory in the first round of the 2013 ECAC New England Tournament, won by the Warriors.
Eastern faces host Ramapo College (2-1) in Sunday's consolation game at 1 p.m. The Roadrunners were upended by Purchase College, 81-58, in Saturday's first game.
