Box Score GORHAM, Maine – Senior forward
Hugh Lindo (Enfield) reached the 1,000-career mark in rebounds – finishing with a career-high 25 -- as the three-time defending Little East Conference regular-season champion Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team defeated the University of Southern Maine, 73-51, in the conference opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.
Lindo, the program leader in career blocks and rebounding average, atttained the 1,000-rebound plateau with his tenth rebound of the game with two minutes left in the first half when he pulled down the rebound of a missed shot by junior Donny Craig (Waterford) and sank a shot jump shot to give the Warriors a 15-point, 32-17, lead.
Lindo's rebounding total Saturday gives him 1,015 in 90 career games (11.6 per game) and moves him to within 22 of breaking the 44-year-old record of E-Club Hall of Famer Lou Chartier (1,036). He also moved to within 75 of his 1,000th career point by scoring a team-high 17.
As a team, Eastern (3-4) grabbed 30 offensive rebounds (11 by Lindo) which led to 29 second-chance points. Lindo collected three of the team's seven blocked shots, extending his program record to 154, as the Warriors held Southern Maine (3-4) more than 30 points below its season average.
Eastern scored 12 straight points after the Huskies grabbed their only lead of the game, getting four points each from sophomore guard Tyrell Arnum (Bloomfield), Lindo (four free throws) and junior guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville). Leading by 11, 32-21, at halftime, the Warriors pulled away midway through the second half. After Kevin Weisser's three-point field goal cut Eastern's lead to nine, Eastern sophomore guard Jaysen Nunez (Hartford) rattled in his only three-point field goal of the game to spark a 12-2 run over three minutes which ballooned the lead to 19, 60-41, with eight minutes left.
Following Nunez' three-pointer, sophomore forward Leonel Hyatt (Greenwich) tipped in Lindo's miss, then grabbed a defensive rebound off of a block by Lindo, and put back Brown's miss at the other end to make it 55-40.
Lindo, who entered the week ranked eighth nationally in total rebounds this year, amassed his third double-double in the last five games. Arnum finished with a season-high 15 points (13 in the first half) and Brown had 11 to move to within 61 of 1,000 in his career. Hyatt came off the bench for career-highs of eight points and ten rebounds in 11 minutes.
Zach Leal of Southern Maine – averaging a conference-leading 23.2 points per game -- managed only eight points in 40 minutes. James Starks reached his season average with a team-high 18 points (only seven in the first half) for USM, which was stopped on 30 percent field goal shooting (18 percent on 17 three-point attempts).
Eastern outrebounded the Huskies 62-38 and forced 16 turnovers which resulted in 19 points.
Eastern visits Rhode Island College Saturday at 3 p.m. in a conference game.
