Box Score
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. --  Steven Cordero played only five minutes and did not score a basket but came off the bench for a key steal in the final seconds, and sank an insurance free throw for his only point with 2.8 seconds left to help carry the University of Massachusetts Boston to an 83-79 Little East Conference men's basketball victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

In a game which featured 44 fouls (including four fifth-foul ejections)  and 64 free throw attempts (UMB converted its first 19 attempts and outscored Eastern 30-16 from the stripe), Eastern (9-2, 1-1 LEC) rallied to tie the game at 77-all with 69 seconds left by scoring seven points in less than a minute, but with Eastern working for a potential game-tying three-point field goal after gaining possession with 22 seconds left, Cordero stripped an Eastern player near the top of the key and after being fouled on a breakaway, sank the second of two shots that provided the Beacons with their final four-point margin of victory.

The win gives UMass Boston (7-5, 3-0 LEC) its fifth straight victory over Eastern in the 89-game series and its fifth straight win overall this year (all on the road) and hands the Warriors their first home loss against five wins and snaps their six-game winning streak.

Fouls proved costly right from the start for Eastern, which ultimately lost three starters with five personal fouls. For their part, the Beacons lost sophomore guard Raphel Laurent – last year's LEC Rookie-of-the-Year and the conference's second-leading scorer (behind only teammate Cameron Perkins) – to his fifth foul with just under three minutes left.

Before departing, the 6-foot-3 inch Laurent boosted his team into an eight-point, 76-68 lead by scoring a game-high 29 points (10-of-14 FG, 8-of-9 FT), pulling down a team-high seven rebounds, dishing out three assists and stealing three balls while committing only one turnover.

 With the game slipping away from Eastern in the final three minutes, Laurent's departure played a role as the Warriors struck for seven quick points – steals by Michael Carothers (Queens, NY) and Dominick Dao (Terryville) fueling the quick surge -- and tying the score at 77-all on Julian Sanchez' (Willimantic) tip-in of his own miss with 69 seconds left.  

However, Sanchez and Dao each drew their fifth personal fouls and left the game three seconds apart with the score tied at 77. UMass missed the front end of a one-and-one on Dao's fifth foul with 1:04 left, but maintained possession when the ball went off Eastern and out of bounds on the missed free throw. Sanchez was then ejected with his fifth foul seconds later and  UMB's Perkins (23.4 ppg.) sank the first of a two-shot foul with 61 seconds left as UMB re-gained the lead, 78-77, which they would not relinquish.

Perkins' free throw that made it 78-77 represented the 13^th and final lead change (the game was also tied ten times).

Trailing 78-77 but with a chance to go ahead, Eastern's Ray Carter (Springfield, MA) – the team's leading three-point shooter – had his bid from distance rim out with 52 seconds left. Davon Sanders grabbed the miss and Perkins gave the Beacons a three-point edge, 80-77, by swishing two free throws (he finished 13-of-15 from the stripe) with 33.4 seconds left.

Eastern got it back down to a point on Jalen Hamblin's (West Hartford)  inside bucket off a feed from New England assist leader Carothers with 23.7 seconds left, but the 6-foot-7 inch Hamblin's fifth personal foul set up a pair of freebies by Skyler Venezia with 22.2 seconds left that made it 82-79. Cordero, who had entered the game just minutes before, then produced the steal that foiled Eastern's attempt to force overtime.

Behind Laurent, the 6-foot-5 inch Perkins had 17 points despite converting only two field goals , Sanders added 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Venezia, who started the second half after playing nine minutes off the bench in the first half, chipped in 14 points.

Despite being limited to 22 minutes, Dao led Eastern with 21 points, with Hamblin adding 20  (the pair were a combined 15-of-22 from the floor) and Drew Soltis (Bridgeport) gaining  his second double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Sanchez, the New England leader in field goal percentage, managed eight points (his first single-digit scoring game of the year) and nine rebounds while limited to 18 minutes due to foul trouble.

In addition to sinking 30 of 38 free throws, UMass helped itself by committing only six turnovers – half as many as Eastern – that accounted for only 11 Eastern points.

Beginning with the UMB game, Eastern's final 15 regular-season games come in conference competition.

Eastern plays its fourth straight home game when it hosts the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (7-4, 1-1 LEC) Tuesday at 3 p.m.  The Corsairs have won their last two -- downing Suffolkd University, 80-69,  in the consolation game of the Trinity Holiday Tournament on New Year's Eve and dumping MIT, 84-72, Saturday at the Tripp Athletic Center. In LEC play. UMass Dartmouth, like Eastern, has split its first two LEC games, losing at Rhode Island College, 87-63, Dec. 3 and routing VTSU Castleton, 78-55, three days later at home. Against Castleon, UMD scored 21 points off 22 Spartan turnovers.

The Corsairs corralled the sixth and final LEC playoff spot last year (one game ahead of Eastern) and dropped an 80-64 LEC tournament road loss at third-seeded Rhode Island College. The Corsairs were 9-17 overall, 6-10 in the LEC. UMD, also an Original Six member of the LEC, holds a 63-50 lead in the all-time series with Eastern. The Warriors swept the Corsairs a year ago with a pair of two-point decisions, winning in overtime at Geissler Gym in the back end of the two-game home-and-home series.