Box Score
NORTHFIELD, Vt.  –  Senior forward Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford) and senior guard Dominick Dao (Terryville) combined for 25 second-half points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field  to help the Warriors protect a 12-point halftime lead and carry the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team to a 74-56 non-conference victory over Western New England University in the first round of the Ed Hockenbury Classic Saturday evening at Andrews Gymnasium.
 
Eastern (6-1) will face host Norwich University (3-5) in Sunday's 3 p.m. championship game. The Cadets advanced with an 86-62 win over the University of Maine at Fort Kent in Saturday's first first-round game. With the win, Eastern matches its start after seven games from a year ago.
 
Hamblin, who scored seven straight Eastern points to keep the Warriors in front in the first half, finished with a game and season-high 25 points and also led both teams with nine rebounds (one shy of his season high). He was 8-of-16 from the floor and 7-of-10 from the stripe and turned the ball over only once in 38 minutes.
 
Scoreless in the first half when he took only three shots, Dao tossed in 12 points with four assists, three rebounds and two steals in the second half. He was 5-of-9 from the floor in helping Eastern shoot 48.1 percent in the game. Senior forward Julian Sanchez (Willimantic) followed Hamblin with 14 points and eight rebounds. He was 6-of-11 from the floor.
 
The final 18-point margin was the Warriors' largest of the game. Eastern held a double-digit lead throughout most of the second half, but withstood several Golden Bear runs that cut the gap to seven once and eight three times.  
 
Leading by that seven-point margin seven minutes into the second half, Eastern all but put the game away by scoring nine straight points and upping the lead to 16, 55-39 on two Hamblin free throws with nine minutes left. In that decisive run, Dao found Sanchez inside twice in a row to make it 50-39, and out of a timeout,  junior guard Pedro Perry (New London) swished a long three-pointer before Hamlin sank his two free throws awarded when he was fouled on a rebound attempt.
 
Five different Eastern players contributed at least one three-point field goal as the Warriors improved their season percentage to  40.9 by sinking half of their 14 attempts.
 
First-year University of Connecticut senior transfer forward Soul Diaby (Springfield, MA) – having been idle due to injury -- made his Eastern debut, spelling Sanchez with six minutes left in the first half. The 6-foot-5 inch Diaby blocked a shot and missed a field goal attempt in playing one minute and 29 seconds. He entered with Eastern leading by six points and left the game with the Warriors still holding a six-point edge.
 
After giving up ten straight points that put them in a six point hole eight minutes into the game, the Warriors re-grouped, outscoring the Golden Bears 15-6 over the final ten minutes of the first half to take that 12-point lead into the locker room.
 
Eastern's final point total was the second-most allowed by Western New England this year and the Golden Bears' point total was their lowest of the year and 17 points below their season average. No Eastern opponent this year had managed as few as WNEU's 56 points.
 
The Golden Bears finished 23-7 last year and won two NCAA tournament games before being eliminated by eventual national champion Trinity College, 79-42. The Golden Bears, who defeated defending LEC champion Keene State College two weeks ago, were coming off their first loss by a 76-74 score to visiting University of Hartford Wednesday night.
 
Eastern and Norwich have split a pair of previous meetings – both at Geissler Gymnasium -- the last one coming 37 years ago.