WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team scored the first ten points of the game and was never threatened in posting an 88-57 Little East Conference victory over Plymouth State University Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

With four conference games remaining in the regular season, Eastern (14-7, 8-2 LEC) opens up a two-game lead in the conference over three teams who are tied for second. Western Connecticut and the University of Southern Maine entered play one game behind the two-time defending regular-season champions but both lost on the road Saturday.

Undefeated in seven home games this year, Eastern has won six of its last eight overall and completes a regular-season sweep of Plymouth State (13-8, 4-6 LEC). Plymouth has dropped seven of its last nine since opening the season at 11-1.

Senior guard Trachone Preston (Enfield) and sophomore guard Tarchee Brown (Rockville) combined for 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting to stake the Warriors to a 20-point, 44-24 halftime lead. In addition to 12 points, Brown also grabbed eight rebounds, handed out three assists and came up with two steals over the first 20 minutes.

Eastern stuck its first four shots of the game to race to its 10-0 lead. Senior guard Kevin Leumene (Stamford) opened the game with a three-point field goal, Brown sank a jumper after grabbing the rebound of a block by junior forward Hugh Lindo (Enfield) – one of his five blocks in the game – to quickly make it 5-0. Soon after, Brown stole the ball, and Preston got it back to him for a three-pointer, and junior center Brandon Kuczenski (Naugatuck) followed with a steal and bucket to make it 10-0 less than three minutes into the game.  Lindo shares the LEC lead with 51 blocks – a personal season-high.

In the first half, Eastern shot 50 percent from the floor and was 11-of-11 from the stripe. In the game, Eastern shot a season-best 91.3 percent from the foul line (21-of-23) and its field goal percentage of 54.4 was its best since the fourth game of the year. The No. 1 defensive team in the LEC at 64.1 ppg allowed, Eastern held Plymouth 35.8 percent from the field and 13 points below its season average.

Brown recorded his first double-double of the year, leading all players with 19 points and a season-high ten rebouonds. Preston had 17 points and six assists and combined with Brown for 14-of-21 field goal shooting. Leumene added ten points and six rebounds and 6-foot-11 inch junior center David Canny (Torrington) came off the bench for nine points (5-of-5 from the line) in 12 minutes.

Coming off a 31-point, 18-rebound effort  in an 88-83 win over UMass Dartmouth a week ago,  Plymouth senior forward Uche Nwokeji led the Panthers with 17 points and eight rebounds. Freshman guard Mike Osgood came off the bench for nine points and four rebounds in 21 minutes.

Eastern visits Western Connecticut in a conference game Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.