Box Score
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. –The friendly confines of Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium did not treat the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team kindly in its home and Little East Conference openers Wednesday evening. The University of Southern Maine may have had something to do with that.
 
After a close first half which had Eastern (6-1, 0-1 LEC) leading by as many as seven points and by five at the half, the Little East's top-ranked defense was no match for the conference's second-ranked offense over the final 20 minutes. Shooting 62.1 percent from the floor thanks mostly to uncontested inside baskets, Southern Maine (5-2, 1-0 LEC) made it three straight victories over the Warriors with an 84-73 victory in front of a supportive Eastern crowd.
 
While Eastern was unsuccessful from distance (3-of-14 on three-point attempts) in the second half, the Huskies were content with owning the inside game, scoring 30 of their 49 second-half points in the paint, out-rebounding Eastern by +10  and ultimately reaching at least 80 points against the Warriors for the fourth time in the last nine meetings.
 
Eastern's three-point shooting of 25.9 percent in the game was its second-lowest of the season.
 
Eastern junior forward Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford) matched his career-high with a season-high 29 points (12-of-24 FG), with junior forward Julian Sanchez (Willimantic) leading the Warriors in rebounding for the fifth time this year with a game and season-tying 11 to go along with 16 points. The pair connected on half of their combined 38 shots but got little help as the rest of the team managed just  23.7 percent on 9-of-38 shooting. Junior guard Dominick Dao (Terryville) had 14 points and eight rebounds.
 
Leading by five at halftime, Eastern got a pair of jumpers from Sanchez and Hamblin to move out to an eight-point lead in the opening minutes of the second half, but a lethal 17-3 scoring run over six minutes gave the visitors a six-point lead seven minutes into the second half and the Warriors never fully recovered. Trailing by five after Dao's jumper with five minutes left, another lengthy scoring drought  over four minutes handed the Huskies a 14-point lead in the final minutes.
 
A balanced USM attack featured its starters combining for all of its points. Graduate forward Bryce Lausier and junior guard Thomas Whelan were mostly unstoppable inside for the Huskies. They combined for 51 points and 18 rebounds, shooting a combined 20-of-32 from the floor.
 
Eastern visits the University of Massachusetts Boston Saturday at 3 p.m. in a conference game before hosting the Eastern Holiday Invitational Dec. 29-30.