WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Farmingdale State College's Corey Powell sank seven of eight free throws in the final three minutes while Eastern Connecticut State University missed six of eight in that final stretch as the Rams erased a 12-point second half deficit to trim the Warriors, 76-74, in a non-conference game Wednesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
 
Leading by two at the break, Eastern (2-5) opened the second half on a 15-6 scoring run to open up an 11-point lead and led by as many as 12, 53-41,  seven minutes into the half, but Farmingdale (5-1) continued to chip away and rode a 12-1 run to finally pull even, 67-all with just under three  minutes left.
 
The Rams took their first lead of the second half, 69-68,  on a jumper by Jevon Santos off an Eastern turnover with 1:34 left, and Powell sank five of six from the line over the final 46.2 to seal the come-from-behind victory.
 
Trailing by four after Farmingdale's Zamere McKenzie converted one of two free throws with 13.2 second left, Eastern cut the gap to one on a long three-point field goal by senior guard Jalen Williams (Simsbury) and had a final possession trailing by two but missed a pair of free throws (the second one intentionally) with 2.1 seconds left.
 
Williams scored 13 of his game and season-high 25 points in the first half on 6-of-8 shooting to power the Warriors to a ten-point lead just five minutes into play. With Eastern leading by 11 with seven minutes left in the game, Williams left the game with a cramp and returned two-and-a-half minutes later with the lead having been cut to five with five minutes left.
 
Williams was 10-of-15 from the floor and had six rebounds while senior guard Tyreice Woods (Hartford) had ten points and senior forward Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford) adding ten points in 16 minutes off the bench. Senior forward Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) led both teams with eight rebounds and also blocked three shots while first-year guard Dominick Dao (Terrvyille) had nine points and five rebounds. Senior guard Max Lee (Norwich) contributed six points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals without a turnover in 31 minutes.
 
Powell led the Rams – winners of five straight – with a team-high 19 points (10-of-12 from the stripe) while McKenzie came off the bench for 16 points in 23 minutes, matching Powell with 11 second-half points.
 
Eastern turned the ball over a season-low ten times, but seven of them came in the second half. In addition to missing six of its eight free throws in the final minutes, Eastern failed on four of its final six shots from the floor. Overall, Eastern was 12-of-22 from the stripe while Farmingdale clicked on 22 of 28 (17-of-21 in the second half).
 
Eastern opens Little Eastern Conference play Saturday at the University of Massachusetts Boston at 3 p.m.