DARTMOUTH, Mass. – With 11 lead changes and six ties, it was a game for the taking for both teams before the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth took the lead for good eight minutes into the second half and held on for its sixth straight win, 71-67, over Eastern Connecticut State University in a Little East Conference men's basketball game Wednesday night at Tripp Athletic Center.
UMass (13-2, 5-1 LEC) got 18 more points than Eastern (11-7, 6-4 LEC) from its bench and, awarded 14 more free throws, recorded a +10 scoring advantage from the stripe as the teams split the regular-season series for the seventh straight year. UMass kept pace in the conference with unbeaten leader Keene State College (14-2, 9-0 LEC), which downed visiting Plymouth State University Wednesday night. Eastern is in third place in the LEC but is now only a half-game ahead of Rhode Island College, which defeated the University of Southern Maine Wednesday.
Since losing to Eastern, 75-73, in its LEC opener at Geissler Gymnasium Dec. 8, the Corsairs have not lost, with five of the six wins in that stretch coming in conference play. Playing its second straight game without second-leading scorer and rebounder
Meikyle Murray (Bronx, NY), Eastern fell to 2-6 on the road this season. The game was the second in three days against a top-ranked LEC opponent for Eastern, which lost, 89-74, Monday at Keene State.
The Warriors got 52 of their points from three players – all guards -- Wednesday: senior
Jalen Williams (Simsbury) and sophomore
Max Lee (Norwich) with 18 each and senior
Tyreice Woods (Hartford), with 16. With the exception of junior forward
Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford), Eastern's starters logged an average of 35 minutes.
Neither team led by more than five points, but the Warriors managed only 28 second-half points and never led again after UMD's Jake Ashworth canned three free throws (his only points of the game) after being fouled on a three-point attempt to make the score 54-53 with just under 12 minutes left. Lee's inside bucket off a defensive rebound and pass from Williams tied the game for the final time, 62-62 with five-and-a-half minutes left, but Eastern missed seven of its final eight shots.
After Lee's tying basket, Eastern twice pulled to within a point on Williams' three-pointer off an offensive rebound and assist from junior forward
Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) with 2:30 left, and Woods' two free throws with 19 seconds left. Eastern had a chance to tie or win after Lott's rebound of a missed UMD free throw with 15 seconds left, but UMD's Marcus Azor was fouled after a steal and iced the game with two free throws that made it a four-point game with five seconds left.
Azor, last year's LEC Player-of-the-Year for the conference tournament champions, finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, nine assists, three steals and two blocks and Adam Seablom added 13 points and five rebounds. Despite being scoreless from the floor, Ashworth grabbed a team-high ten rebounds and did not turn the ball over in 37 minutes.
Lott came off the bench for 11 rebounds in 20 minutes and senior guard
Thomas Close (East Hampton) had nine points and only one turnover in 37 minutes. Co-scoring leaders Williams and Lee connected on half of their shots from the floor and combined for 12 rebounds and 11 assists. They were 8-of-13 from three-point range.
As a team, Eastern shot nearly 50 percent from three-point range (11-of-24/45.8 percent), outscoring the LEC's second-best three-point shooting team by 18 from distance.
Eastern hosts Keene State College Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
