Box Score
DANBURY, Conn. – The euphoria was short-lived.
 
Just days after a holiday invitational championship which included a soundly-executed eight-point non-conference win over Wesleyan University Saturday afternoon, a young  Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team came crashing back to earth in a 79-58 Little East Conference loss to veteran and talented Western Connecticut State University, 79-58, Wednesday evening at Stephen Feldman Arena.
 
With three newcomers in the starting lineup, Eastern (3-10, 0-4 LEC) stayed close and trailed by only five through the first 12 minutes before WestConn (11-2, 4-0 LEC) ran off 21 of the next 25 points to move out to a 22-point lead, 41-19, two minutes before halftime and would eventually send Eastern to its sixth road loss in seven games this year. Eastern played without its only senior – Cade Ensinger (Deep River) – who had helped spark the Wesleyan win by scoring 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor.
 
Eastern had won three of its previous four against Western, including its last two at Feldman Arena, but first-half turnovers ultimately did the Warriors in this time. After Western scored the opening bucket, Eastern was whistled for a violation on the inbound pass the first time it touched the ball. It proved to be a sign of things to come.
 
Coming off a 20-win season and overtime loss in last year's LEC tournament championship game, WestConn featured a starting five which included a graduate student, senior, and two juniors this year. The Wolves forced 15 turnovers in the first half against Eastern, connected on half of its field goals, and dominated in the paint with a 22-8 scoring advantage in rolling up a double-digit lead with four minutes left in the first half and led by 23 points, 48-25, at halftime.  
 
After first-year guard Elijah Jean-Guillaume (New Haven) came off the bench to sink three free throws and soon after a three-pointer with five seconds left in the half, WestConn negated any momentum Eastern was hoping to take into the break when freshman guard C.J. Riley countered by swishing a three-pointer of his own a split second before time expired in the half.
 
First-year junior transfer guard Ty Calloway (Enfield) led Eastern in the first half with nine points, but the other our Eastern starters managed a combined two points. The bench outscored the starters, 14-11, in that first half.
 
Calloway led Eastern in the game with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting, with sophomore Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford) adding 11 points – all in the second half – and Jean-Guillaume following with nine (one shy of his career-high).  Hamblin was a rebound shy of his sixth double-double (fourth straight) while first-year guard Esco Greene (New Britain) had six assists, five rebounds and two steals to go along with six points.
 
Eastern turned the ball over a season-high 26 times, with the Wolves making 14 steals – the most allowed by the Warriors this year – that led to 25 points off turnovers.
 
First-year guard Cedrick Similien (Norwich) scored the first five points of his career, connecting for his first basket with a jumper that made it 20-15 (WestConn) with eight minutes left in the first half. After scoring his first collegiate points on free throws earlier this year, first-year guard King Shaw (Waterbury) recorded his first field goal on his only shot of the game with just over three minutes left off a pass from Greene.
 
Eastern visits Keene State College Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a conference game.