Box Score WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Junior forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) sparked a decisive run of six straight points with a pair of dunks to help the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team shake free in the final eight minutes and remain the only unbeaten team in the Little East Conference with a 71-63 victory over Western Connecticut State University Wednesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
The team's 38th regular-season conference win in its last 39 games moves Eastern (12-5, 6-0 LEC) two games ahead of Western (10-6, 4-2 LEC) and three games ahead of four additional teams with identical 3-3 conference records. Eastern remains unbeaten in five home games.
There were seven ties and six lead changes before senior guard Trachone Preston's (Enfield) only three-point field goal of the game set up by Lindo's offensive rebound gave the Warriors the lead for good, 49-48, midway through the second half.
With Eastern leading by one a minute later, Lindo sandwiched a pair of dunks around an inside hoop from senior guard Michael-Thomas Sciro (Westerly, RI) to push Eastern's lead to seven, 57-50, with seven minutes left. Minutes later, a pair of free throws gave Eastern its first double-digit lead, 67-56, with 1:23 left.
In a game which featured the top defensive team in the conference in Eastern and the second-best offensive club in Western, the Warriors held the visitors 20 points below their season average as they gave up their season average of 63 points per game.
Playing all but five minutes of the game, Eastern senior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) limited Western senior guard Phil Starks more than ten points under his season average. Ranked second in the conference in scoring, Starks was 4-of-21 from the floor and finished with ten points in 38 minutes. Leumene had four rebounds and four assists without a turnover.
Lindo finished with his seventh straight double-double with 12 points and a team-high 13 rebounds and also blocked three shots and had four assists. Sophomore guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) scored all 12 of his first-half points in the first 11 minutes of a half which featured five lead changes and four ties and finished with a game-high 23 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Preston added 17 points and five assists and Sciro came off the bench for 12 points – his highest total since the second game of the year. Brown and Preston combined to sink 13 of 14 free throws.
Senior forward Luis Bridtter had 18 points, a game-high 14 rebounds, three assists and three steals for Western, which had won four of its previous five but dropped its ninth straight to Eastern. Senior guard Ryan Belote added 12 points in 25 minutes for the Colonials.
Eastern visits the University of Southern Maine Saturday at 3 p.m.
