Box Score  

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – As quickly as it lost the momentum – allowing Johnson & Wales University its first (and as it turned out only) lead of the game late in the first half – the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team re-gained it, and used it as a springboard to a 53-39 non-conference victory Sunday afternoon at the Wildcat Center.

The victory gives Eastern its first 3-0 start in seven years, the Warriors going on to win 26 of 30 games that year, and, coincidentally, defeat Johnson & Wales (1-2) in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Division III tournament, 75-59, at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

The victory also gives the Warriors their first win away from home over the Wildcats, who posted a 78-61 triumph over Eastern at the Wildcat Center during the 2019-20 season.

Sunday, Eastern surged to a nine-point halftime lead after scoring the final ten points of the half after the hosts had erased an early seven-point deficit and snatched its only lead of the game, 24-23, four minutes before the break. The Wildcats had a chance to expand the lead to four after gaining possession on an Eastern turnover, but missed an inside attempt and junior forward Julian Sanchez (Willimantic) ignited the run of ten straight points and gave Eastern the lead for good by putting back an Eastern missed shot. Six-foot-seven junior forward Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford) then blocked a shot on the other end and converted a jumper back on the offensive end to make it 27-24 and three-pointers by Hamblin and junior guard Dominick Dao (Terryville) in the final 84 seconds made it a nine-point spread at halftime.

With baskets, Sanchez bookended Eastern's 20-2 run which spanned the final four minutes of the first half and first six minutes of the second and turned the one-point deficit into a 17-point, 43-26 lead with 14 minutes left in the game.

In the second half, the teams combined for only 35 points on 32.5 shooting from the floor, 0.0 percent (0-of-13) from three-point range, and 56.3 percent shooting from the foul line. Each team also turned the ball over eight times over the final 20 minutes.

Hamblin (game-high 15 points), Sanchez (12) and Dao (11) combined for 38 of the team's final point total (and 20 of its 35 rebounds), with the trio connecting on 16-of-28 attempts from the floor (57.1 percent) and 4-of-6 from the foul line. Sanchez led both teams with nine rebounds, Hamblin adding seven. Junior point guard Michael Carothers (Queens, NY) handed out six assists (and grabbed four rebounds in 23 minutes), Dao and sophomore Esco Greene (New Britain) four each. Senior forward Sheriff Bilewu (Waterbury) contributed four rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal in just seven minutes off the bench.

Johnson & Wales, which had averaged 75 points in its first two games, shot just 32.7 percent from the floor (5-of-20 in the second half) and failed on 16 of 17 three-point attempts.

Eastern last kept an opponent to as few as 39 points more than ten years ago (Feb. 24, 2015) in an 80-39 Little East Conference home win over the University of Southern Maine. The last opponent to score less than 39 was Hunter College on New Year's Eve, 2011 in the Warriors' 75-35 victory in the first round of the Springfield College/Naismith Classic at Blake Arena.

 Eastern is now shooting 50.9 percent from the floor in three games, having won by an average margin of 17 points.

Eastern participates in the Cadet/Mariner Classic this weekend, facing Mitchell College (3-0 through Sunday) Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Yarnall Athletic Center on the Mitchell campus and meeting the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (0-1 through Sunday) Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Roland Hall on the USCGA campus. The Warriors play their first seven games away from home before hosting Southern Maine in their Little East opener Dec. 4 at 7 p.m.