AMHERST, Mass. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team overcame a late five-point deficit but No. 9 ranked Amherst College spoiled the Warriors' upset bid when Jayde Dawson sank a game-winning three-point field goal with 2.4 seconds left to lift the Lord Jeffs to a 68-65 victory Tuesday evening at LeFrak Gymasium.

Idle for more than two weeks, Eastern (8-5) climbed out of a five-point hole in the final minutes to tie the game. Senior guard Trachone Preston's (Enfield) completed a three-point field with a free throw with just under two minutes left to cut the gap to two, and juniors David Canny (Torrington) and Hugh Lindo (Enfield) blocked Amherst (10-1) shots to set up Lindo's tying inside bucket with 33 seconds left.

On Amherst's final possession, Dawson drained the game-winning three-point field goal after missing nine of his first 12 field goal attempts as the Lord Jeffs ended their brief one-game losing streak. The Lord Jeffs had ended last week ranked No. 3 nationally but fell six spots after losing Sunday to host  Rhodes College, 76-69, the title game of the Rhodes New-Year Classic.

The Warriors led throughout much of the game, surging to a ten-point, 36-26 lead inside the final minute of the first half and leading by eight at halftime. Amherst never trailed after Connor Green's jumper gave the Jeffs a 58-57 lead with six minutes left.

Preston led all players with 21 points, Lindo scoring 11 points and grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds with three blocked shots, and sophomore guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) contributing 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.  Lindo, who has 34 blocks in 13 games for a 2.62 average this year, set the program career record of 120 blocked shots against Amherst. He entered the game with 117, tied with Leon Martin (2004-08). 

Johnny McCarthy led Amherst with 13 points and eight rebounds, Dawson finishing with 12 points, five assists and four rebounds and Eric Conklin came off the bench to chip in nine points (4-of-4 from the floor) with four rebounds in 19 minutes.

Eastern looks for its third Little East Conferencw win without a loss Saturday when it visits Plymouth State University Saturday at 3 p.m.