WORCESTER, Mass. –  The first basket of the game gave the WPI men's basketball team the lead and the Engineers never trailed, building a 19-point lead early in the second half on the way to a 76-62 non-conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State University in the opener for both teams Tuesday night at Harrington Auditorium.

Returning two starters from last year's 18-9 finisher, Eastern shot just 32.4 percent from the floor – missing 21 of 26 three-point field goals – in losing its season-opener to WPI for the second straight season. The Engineers were 20-7 a year ago and lost to SUNY Cortland in the first round of the NCAA tournament after qualifying on an at-large basis.

Eastern junior guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) led all players in the game with 23 points and senior guard Hugh Lindo (Enfield) and sophomore guard Tyrell Arnum (Bloomfield) combined for 24 rebounds. Arnum had 11 points and a career-high ten rebounds in posting his first career double-double.

The Warriors turned the ball over two fewer times and outrebounded the hosts by three but WPI used 48.1 percent shooting from the floor, hitting half of its first-half shots to build a 14-point halftime lead. After trailing by 19 six minutes into the second half, Eastern crept to within 11 points three times, the final time on an inside bucket by Brown with just under five minutes left.

Senior forward Ian Converse paced three WPI double-figure scorers with 19 points and shared the team lead with seven rebounds. He turned the ball over only once in 35 minutes. The Engineers, receiving votes in the D3hoops.com preseason Top 25, won their 15th consecutive season opener.

Eastern opens play in its own tip-off tournament Friday at 5:30 p.m., hosting The Sage Colleges at Geissler Gym.