Box Score
GORHAM, Maine – Senior guard Javontae Jones (Lumberton, NJ) was a non-factor when the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team split two regular-season games this year with the University of Southern Maine.
 
But after an uneventful two minutes in the first half of Wednesday's Little East Conference first-round game against the fourth-seeded Huskies, the 6-foot-2 inch guard took center stage, and in large part because of that, the fifth-seeded Warriors emerged with an LEC tournament win on their opponents' home court for the first time in 26 years, 93-83, at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.
 
Jones scored all of his career-high 17 points in the second half, with 13 of the 17 -- and 13 of the team's final 20 -- coming in the final 4:30 on two field goals and eight free throws  as the Warriors (17-9) handed the Huskies (16-10) only their second home loss in 12 outings this year. USM had pinned an 81-70 loss on visiting Eastern five weeks ago before the Warriors gained a split with an 88-85 home victory during a critical four-game win streak that started the month of February.
 
With the first-round win, Eastern improved to 6-1 in its last seven games and moved into the tournament semifinals against top-seeded Western Connecticut State University (19-6) Friday at 6 p.m. at Feldman Arena (WestConn drew a first-round bye). Eastern opened its LEC season with a 78-73 win at WestConn back on Dec. 3.
 
Since losing four of its first six, USM had won 14 of 19 entering the tournament, including three straight in conference play.
 
After junior guard Ray Carter's (Springfield, MA) bucket in the paint gave Eastern a 14-point, 80-66 lead with 3:20 left, Eastern scored its next 11 points from the foul line until junior forward Drew Soltis (Bridgeport) beat the final horn with an uncontested dunk.
 
After Carter's basket with 3:20 left, Jones missed the front end of two one-and-ones 29 seconds apart before  connecting on eight of ten from the stripe with Eastern in the two-shot bonus, to keep the Huskies at bay.
 
It marked only the second double-digit scoring game in the two-year, 37-game career of Jones, who has come off the bench in each game. Jones spelled starting point guard Michael Carothers (Queens, NY) midway through the second half with Eastern leading by four, and did not come off the floor over the final 9:46.
 
Jones was inserted into the game while USM was tearing off a nine-point scoring run that whittled an 11-point Eastern lead to two, 57-55, with nine minutes left. With the Warriors leading by four, junior guard Pedro Perry (New London) and Jones sandwiched back-to-back three-point field goals around a pair of USM free throws that gave the Warriors some breathing room at 67-59, with seven minutes left. Soon after, Jones hit the back end of a two-shot foul, then set up Perry's second three-pointer of the game that restored Eastern's lead to double digits, 71-61, with five minutes left.
 
Jones' second three-pointer of the half from the corner and his layup from the left side on a cut through the lane  set the stage for his free-throw barrage over the final two minutes that never led USM get closer than eight points (with six seconds left).
 
Limited to six points in 17 first-half minutes, Soltis finished with a game-high 22 points to lead five double-digit scorers, and team-high nine rebounds. He was 6-of-8 from the floor in the second half.
 
Jones was 9-of-14 from the foul line en route to his 17 points, with Carter adding 12 points. Senior guard Dominick Dao (Terryville) had 12 points and junior forward Julian Sanchez (Willimantic) came off the bench for 11 points and eight rebounds. Dao and Sanchez each had nine of their points in the first half to help the Warriors to a slim three-point halftime lead.
 
Senior forward Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford), along with Dao and Soltis, carried four fouls into the late stages of the game. Hamblin had eight points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 4:57 left and the Warriors up by ten.
 
The conference leaders in  field goal percentage and three-point percentage, the Huskies were 8-of-19 from distance but only managed  37.7 percent overall from the floor.
 
Senior guard Thomas Whalen – the third-ranked scorer in the Little East  -- led four Huskies in double figures, with 18 points, but only five came in a first half on 1-of-7 shooting when the Warriors set the tempo by leading by as many as ten. Six-foot-six inch freshman Gabe Lash had 15 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with his team down by 11 with 1:31 left.
 
Until Wednesday, Eastern had last won an LEC tournament game on its opponents' home court exactly 26 years ago to the day when the Warriors eliminated top-seeded University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 68-53, before winning  the second of their five LEC tournament titles the next day with a 73-66 win over Southern Maine.