WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Sophomore guard Max Lee (Norwich) scored all ten of his points in the second half and finished with a triple-double that helped power the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team to a 75-73 Little East Conference victory over defending conference champion University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Wednesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
 
The win is the fourth straight for Eastern (6-3, 2-0 LEC) and second loss in the last three games for UMass Dartmouth (7-2, 0-1 LEC), which won last year's abbreviated LEC regular-season and went on to its 12^th LEC tournament crown. The Corsairs, who average 88 points a game, received votes in the most recent D3hoops.com national poll. It was their second-lowest point total of the year.
 
There were a total of 19 ties and lead changes between the two teams who are among the six original Little East members who were meeting for the 106^th time in a series which began in 1972-73. The Corsairs hold the series lead, 59-47.
 
The Corsairs led for nearly half the game but never by more than seven. Eastern broke the tenth and final tie midway through the second half on an inside bucket by first-year guard Benjamin Toussaint (Bellmore, NY) off a pass from Lee and Lee's inside basket off a pass from Tyreice Woods (Hartford).
 
Senior guard Adam Seablom's only three-pointer of the game pulled the Corsairs to within one with just under three minutes left but Eastern responded with the decisive points of  the game when Lee found junior forward Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) underneath, and after UMD missed a three-pointer, Woods grabbed the offensive rebound of his own miss and set up senior guard Thomas Close (East Hampton) for a key three-pointer that made it 70-64 with two minutes left.
 
Woods scored on another drive to restore an Eastern six-point lead and senior guard Cory Muckle's (Westbrook) two free throws with 15.8 seconds left made the score 74-68 and all but sealed the win. Muckle's free throws came seconds after Seablom grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in with 18 seconds left that cut Eastern's lead to four, 72-68, with 18 seconds left. Toussaint, who came off the bench for five points and a season-high five rebounds without a turnover in 12 minutes, hit the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 5.4 seconds to make it 75-70 before Azor grabbed the second miss, dribbled over mid court, and nailed his game-ending -- but inconsequential three-pointer -- at the horn to make the final margin two points.
 

Senior guard Marcus Azor, who led all players with 22 points, drained a long three-pointer at the buzzer to give him 999 career points. The 6-foor-2 inch Azor, one of the LEC's top overall players, added a game-high 16 rebounds and handed out eight assists but was one of only two UMD players in double figures.
 
Lee did not score in the first half – taking only one shot – but had seven assists and five rebounds that helped Eastern hang close after falling behind by seven midway through the half. Lee played the entire second half – as did Close and Muckle – and had ten points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals without a turnover over those final 20 minutes to finish with ten points (5-of-7 field goals), 11 assists and ten rebounds in 39 minutes.
 
Eastern turned the ball over only three times in the second half and committed single-digit turnovers for the fourth time this year, tying its season low with eight.
 
Eastern's starters all finished in double figures. Woods led the way with 15 points and five rebounds, Muckle 14 points and six rebounds, Close 12 points and no turnovers and the 6-foot-4 inch Lott had 11 points and nine rebounds.

By equalling his season-high with three three-point field goals, Muckle moved into second place all-time in that category -- two ahead of Brian Salzillo (2010-14) and 14 behind Hall of Famer and all-time leader Edwin Ortiz (2006-10).
 
Junior Jackson Zancan, a 6-foot-5 inch forward, had ten points and ten rebounds but was limited to 22 minutes due to foul trouble. Zancan picked up his fourth with six minutes left and fouled out defending Lott with 3:08 left and his team trailing by two. Lott sank both resulting free throws to give Eastern a 65-61 lead, and after Seablom drained a three-pointer, Lott countered with an inside bucket off a pass from Lee. Lott then grabbed a rebound at the other end of the floor and Close's three-pointer off of Woods' offensive rebound pushed the lead to six, 70-64, with just under two minutes left.

 Seablom added nine points and seven rebounds. Seablom and graduate guard Jake Ashworth combined for only 17 points Wednesday after averaging nearly double that in last year's regular-season split.

Lee's triple-double is the first since senior guard Mike Parker totalled 13 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists in a 78-64 non-conference home win over SUNY Old Westbury Feb. 8, 2007. That season was the only one at Eastern for Parker, who was named first-team All-LEC after transferring from Sacred Heart University. Prior to Parker, Ed Silva had 28 points, ten rebounds and ten assists in a 118-111 non-conference home loss to Babson College on Jan. 25, 1996. Silva served as an assistant coach at Eastern under former coach Barry Davis upon graduation before moving on to Elms College for 11 seasons. He is currently in his tenth season as head coach at the University of New England, where he also serves as  Interim Provost for Community, Equity and Diversity.
 
Since Eastern swept the season series in 2015-16, the teams have split their LEC regular-season pair the last five years. The Warriors' last five wins over UMD have come by a total of 19 points.
 
Eastern visits Plymouth State University Saturday at 3 p.m. in an LEC contest.