CLINTON, N.Y. --  The Eastern Connecticut  State University men's basketball team used an 11-2 run midway through the second half to open up a 17-point lead, and withstood a flurry of Hartwick College three-point field goals in the final minutes to post a 93-87 victory in the opening round of the Hamilton College Invitational Saturday night at Scott Field House.

Ranked No. 14 nationally in the pre-season, Eastern (3-2) moves into the tournament championship game Sunday at 3 p.m. against host Hamilton College, which defeated SUNY Cobleskill, 68-60, in Saturday's second semifinal. The meeting with Hamilton will be the first between the programs. Bill Geitner, Eastern's 14th-year head coach, played basketball for Hamilton in the mid-1980s.

After Hartwick (2-2) whittled Eastern's lead to five, sophomore guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) and senior guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) each sank two free throws in the final 12.7 seconds around a three-point field goal by Hartwick freshman guard Brandon LaForest to seal the win.

Eastern led by ten, 37-27, at halftime, but the squads combined for 116 points in the second half, the Hawks scoring 60.

Preston led all players with a career-high 31 points, sinking 11 of 16 field goals (3-of-4 from "three" and all six of his free throws. Brown, coming off a program-record 44 points a week ago, followed with 19 points (15 in the second half) and five assists, with junior forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) adding seven points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots.

Eastern led by  12 points, 76-64, after Brown sank two free throws with 5:53 left,  but the Hawks answered with a 12-5 run that pulled Hartwick to within five, 81-76, with just under two minutes left on senior guard Trevor Norton's three-pointer. Brown followed with a jumper and after Lindo grabbed Hartwick's missed three-pointer, sophomore guard Collin Jordan (Cheshire) swished two free throws to make it a nine-point advantage, 85-76, with 1:11 left.

LaForest, junior forward Justin Pratt and Norton combined to sink ten of 24 three-point field goals for Hartwick, which had defeated Eastern by three points in the first round of last year's Hartwick College Tournament. LaForest topped five Hartwick double-digit scorers with 22 points.

Six-foot-nine inch senior center Matt Wilson finished with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds,  but left the game after being called for his fifth personal foul with 9:39 left and the Warriors leading by 12, 63-51. Wilson was called for a technical foul after being fouled scoring on a layup, and the Hartwick bench was then issued a second. Preston sank all four of the free throws that pushed Eastern's lead to 16, 67-51, with 9:55 left.