Box Score

DARTMOUTH, Mass. – They had 'em all the way. Kinda, sorta.

Junior point guard Michael Carothers (Queens, NY) sank three free throws in the final 45 seconds as the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team built a ten-point lead with six minutes left that proved to be just enough to hold off the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 68-66, in a Little East Conference game Saturday afternoon at the Tripp Athletic Center.
 
Eastern (9-2, 1-2 LEC) never trailed over the final 29 minutes but UMass Dartmouth (3-7, 1-1 LEC) – second in the LEC in free throw percentage -- converted 20 of 22 free throws in the game to remain within striking distance, finally missing a potential game-tying bucket in the paint off a sideline inbound pass with four seconds left as the Warriors ended a five-game losing streak on UMD's home court in posting their seventh win in eight road games this season.
 
UMass, which had swept last year's regular-season series with Eastern for the first time in 15 years, erased Eastern's ten-point lead with six minutes remaining, finally pulling even at 63-all when season scoring leader Josh Lopes swished his first three-point field goal of the game from the right side with 1:48 left.
 
After Eastern took a 65-63 lead on sophomore forward Julian Sanchez' (Willimantic) inside basket, sophomore guard Elijah Jean-Guillaume (New Haven) – entering minutes earlier after sophomore guard Cedrick Similien (Norwich) fouled out -- made the defensive stop of the game when he forced a jump ball and returned possession to Eastern with 74 seconds left. Carothers then converted two of three free throws after being fouled on a failed off-balance three-point attempt with 45 seconds left to make it 67-63. With Eastern clinging to its four-point lead, Lopes canned his second three-pointer of the game (second in 74 seconds) to make it 67-66 with 34 seconds left before Carothers -- after killing 25 seconds off the clock -- sank one of two free throws with seven seconds left to give Eastern its final two-point margin of victory.
 
After an exchange of timeouts, UMD's Danny Reyes – guarded by Jean-Guillaume -- inbounded the ball in front of the UMD bench with four seconds left to 6-foot-8 inch junior Ryan Flauto in the paint. Flauto took one dribble, turned to his left and put up a ten-footer over the tight defense of 6-foot-3 inch Eastern senior Sheriff Bilewu (Waterbury) that grazed the front of the rim. Flauto followed by grabbing the rebound, but his putback as the buzzer sounded also drew only the front of the rim.
 
Eastern, a winner of three straight after losing its LEC openers a month ago, scored the first seven points of the game, and pushed the lead to a game-high 12 with two minutes left in the half on a three-point field goal by first-year guard Eli Limric's (Glastonbury) on his only shot of the game in a two-minute cameo appearance.
 
Eastern led by nine at the half but  Lopes – held scoreless from the floor and to only two points in the first half – scored four quick points, and second-leading season scorer and returning All-LEC graduate guard Isaac Percy canned a three-pointer off an Eastern turnover to cut the gap to three, 34-31, less than two minutes into the second half. An 8-2 scoring burst helped the Warriors regain their nine-point lead (42-33) four minutes into the session – junior guard Dominick Dao (Terryville) sinking a pair of deep three-pointers around Similien's inside bucket off a defensive rebound from Sanchez.
 
The Corsairs refused to wilt, however, using free-throw marksmanship (14-of-16 from the stripe in the second half) to keep it no worse than a three-possession game the rest of the way. A key possession came with 11 minutes when UMD – trailing by seven – botched a dunk attempt and Eastern answered with a pair of free throws by Similien (after getting fouled while in the process of turning the ball over) and one of Bilewu's two field goal off his own offensive rebound that pushed the lead to 11, 55-44, with just under nine minutes left.
 
Eastern's season-high 60 percent shooting from the floor (4-of-8 from distance) was in part nullified by a season-high 20 turnovers – 12 in the second half. The Warriors nearly doubled the Corsairs' scoring production in the paint – taking a 42-22 advantage – but the hosts capitalized with a +9 scoring advantage off turnovers. UMD managed to remain within a three-point field goal of a win despite shooting 35.1 percent from the floor.
 
Sanchez matched UMD's Percy with a game-high 19 points, with Dao (15) and Similien (career-high14) following closely in combining for 48 of the team's final point total. Carothers grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and handed out four assists to to along with seven points, with Sanchez helped Eastern to a +1 rebounding edge with six. Dao was 6-of-10 from the floor (3-of-5 from deep) with four steals and three rebounds, with Similien also stealing three balls.  Lopes of UMD scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half while John Marcille added 12 points and six rebounds.
 
Eastern host Western Connecticut State University Wednesday at 4 p.m. Ranked second in the LEC pre-season poll, WestConn reached last year's conference tournament championship game. Idle on Saturday, the Wolves (6-6, 2-1 LEC) are coming off a pair of losses in last weekend's University of Saint Joseph Holiday Tournament, losing to Connecticut College (Eastern edged the Camels, 61-60 on Nov. 26), 80-64,  and host Saint Joseph, 88-69. After losing its LEC opener to UMass Boston, 83-82, WestConn has followed with wins over VTSU Castleton, 87-70, and Plymouth State University, 57-53.
 
Since Eastern won 16 in a row against WestConn, the Wolves have captured six of the last ten, sweeping the season series twice in the last four years.