GORHAM, Maine – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team shot over 50 percent from the floor for the third time in five games and held the University of Southern Maine to 29 second-half points in a 73-65 Little East Conference victory Monday evening at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.
 
With its fifth straight conference victory (third straight on the road), Eastern (16-7, 11-4 LEC) moves into sole possession of second place in the conference, a half-game ahead of Keene State College (10-4 LEC) with a game in hand and 1 ½ games behind leader Massachusetts Dartmouth.
 
Eastern closes out the regular season by hosting Western Connecticut (6-8 LEC) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Keene hosts LEC winless Castleton University Wednesday and ends the regular season at Massachusetts Boston Saturday.
 
Trailing by one at halftime, Eastern allowed USM only 29 second-half points, using an opening spurt to open up a 12-point lead in the opening five minutes of the second half.
 
Junior forward Meikyle Murray (Bronx, NY), this past week's LEC co-Player-of-the-Week, led three Eastern double-figure scorers with 18 points, junior point guard Jalen Williams (Simsbury) adding 17 and junior forward Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford) adding 13 points and sharing team-high rebounding honors (7) with classmate Quinton Lott (Bridgeport). Murray, Williams and Tibby combined to shoot 19-of-32 from the floor to propel the Warriors to a shooting percentage of 51.9.
 
Eastern completes the regular-season series sweep with Southern Maine – its fourth in the last five years -- after erasing a 17-point first-half deficit in Saturday's 75-61 victory. The Huskies have lost their last five.