WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team built a 13-point lead midway through the second half and survived down the stretch after Anna Maria College missed its final four shots for a 75-72 victory in the first round of the Eastern Tip-Off Tournament Friday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Eastern (1-1) faces No. 5 nationally-ranked Oswego State (1-0) in Saturday's 2 p.m. championship game. Anna Maria (1-1) meets Hobart College (1-1) in the noon third-place game. Trailing by as many as nine points and by five at halftime, Oswego finally pulled away from gritty Hobart, 65-53, in Friday's second game.
A steal and layup pulled Anna Maria to within one inside the final two minutes. After Eastern's
Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) gave Eastern a three-point lead, 75-72, with just over a minute left, the Warriors missed a three-pointer and two free throws, but the AMCATS couldn't pull even when they missed two three-point attempts in the final seconds, the second one coming after they inbounded under the Eastern basket with 2.1 seconds left, but the final shot at the buzzer bounced off the back of the iron as time expired.
Anna Maria lost two starters in the final three minutes when they were assessed their fifth persona fouls, and the AMCATS were also slapped with two technical fouls. The second technical foul occurred after Eastern's
Jalen Williams (Simsbury) was fouled in the act of shooting and the senior point guard cashed in four free throws which pushed the Warriors into a six-point, 73-67 lead with 3:04 remaining.
Holding to the six-point lead, Eastern turned the ball over on three straight possessions which kept it a one-possession game in the closing minutes.
Williams led Eastern with 20 points to go along with seven rebounds and Lott followed with 18 points and a game-high ten rebounds, with
Tyreice Woods (Hartford) adding 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. First-year guard
Dominick Dao (Terryville) was held scoreless from the floor on seven shots but helped Eastern to a +10 advantage in rebounds with eight.
Led by Woods, Eastern's bench outscored Anna Maria's bench, 31-6. In addition to Woods, guard
Cade Ensinger (Deep River) and forward
Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford) provided quality minutes off the bench. Each contributed eight points on combined 7-of-11 shooting, and combined for seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in 37 minutes.
Gabe Armstead sparked Anna Maria by scoring 13 of his 20 points in the first half when his team trailed by only two at the break. Sean Zabari added 16 points and seven rebounds, Jakai Alexandre 11 points and Jayden Dickerson ten points and seven rebounds.
Oswego uses 16-point run to overcome Hobart
Oswego, which reached the third round of last year's NCAA Division III tournament, trailed for half the game against Hobart and never went to the foul line, but turned the ball over only three times all evening in amassing a 17-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
Leading by five at halftime, the Statesmen scored the first two buckets of the second half to move out to their largest lead, 34-25, but a run of 16 consecutive points turned a two-point deficit into a 14-point, 59-45 Oswego lead with six minutes left. The Lakers buried three three-pointers in that run, with Ahkee Anderson closing the spurt with a three-pointer and jumper.
Anderson scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in the second half, with Devin Green scoring nine of his 13 after the break and adding six assists, and Cartier Bowman scoring eight of his 12 in the second half. Jeremiah Sparks led the Lakers with eight rebounds.
Jackson Meshanic, Hobart's 6-foot-7 inch senior, had 14 points,14 rebounds and four assists, with Carter Meshanic following with eight rebounds.
