WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team turned 17 Trinity College turnovers into 20 points and erased an eight-point deficit with eight minutes left on the strength of a 14-0 scoring run en route to a 57-49 victory over the No. 15-ranked Bantams Tuesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

The win is the fifth straight this year for Eastern (6-2) and sixth straight for the Warriors over Trinity (4-2), which had won four straight after a season-opening loss.

Down by eight with eight minutes left, Eastern scored six straight to cut the deficit to two and later used a 15-4 run  to wipe out a two-point deficit with 6:50 left, capping its largest lead at nine points (56-47) after senior guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) connected on two free throws with 35.6 seconds left.

The Warriors converted Trinity's 17 turnovers into 20 points while the Bantams managed only four points off 13 Eastern turnovers.  Trailing by six, 24-18 at halftime, Eastern turned the ball over only four times in the second half. Preston scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, and junior forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) grabbed eight of his ten rebounds after the break.

Eastern sophomore guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) – averaging a team-high 23 points entering the game – responded from a scoreless first half by scoring all nine of his points in the second despite picking up his fourth personal foul with 15:33 remaining and Eastern trailing by seven.

With Trinity managing to protect a slim lead in the second half, Brown finally put Eastern ahead with four minutes left when he turned Lindo's steal and pass into a thunderous, twisting dunk, then completed a three-point play with a free throw to give the Warriors the lead for good, 48-47.

Brown's play came amidst a decisive streak of 14 consecutive points as the Warriors outscored the Bantams, 15-2, the rest of the way after trailing by five, 47-42, with six minutes left. After struggling at the foul line throughout most of the game, the Warriors scored nine of their final 15 points from the stripe.

In the second half, Trinity was off the mark on ten of 12 three-points and converted only five of 14 free throws. Trying to dig into Eastern's seven-point lead in the final minute, Trinity missed four consecutive free throws and finished the game hitting only half of its 18 attempts.

With their team nursing a slim lead, Trinity sophomore guard  Eric Gendron and senior forward Shay Ajayi were hit with their fourth personal fouls just over a minute apart inside the final six minutes and both eventually fouled out, Gendron with three minutes left and Ajayi with 1:45 remaining and their team trailing.

 Both teams fell well below their season scoring averages of 76 points in a physical game which featured 47 fouls.

 Senior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) followed Preston with 12 points, both grabbing six rebounds, along with  junior center Brandon Kuczenski (Naugatuck). Preston was 6-of-7 from the foul line.

 Trinity's Ed Ogundeko (Brookyn, NY), a 6-foot-6 inch, 235 pound center, led all players with 16 rebounds and collected three of his team's nine blocked shots, but failed on six of nine free throws and was just 2-of-9 from the floor. Freshman guard Erick Santana (Union City, NJ) was Trinity's only double-digit scorer, finishing with ten.

Eastern hosts Rhode Island College Saturday at 3 p.m. in a Little East Conference game.