WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Junior guard Cory Muckle (Westbrook) had a team-high 22 points – including the 1,000th point of his career – as the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team completed a season sweep of Plymouth State University with a 78-70 Little East Conference win Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
With two regular-season games remaining, Eastern (10-13, 6-8 LEC) remains a game behind Keene State College and Plymouth State (13-10, 7-7 LEC) in the race for the sixth and final spot in the LEC tournament, which gets underway with first-round games in ten days. Keene (7-7 LEC) avenged a 76-60 loss at Rhode Island College a month ago with an important 84-80 win over the visiting Anchormen Saturday to keep its one-game margin.
A 68-65 winner at Keene State Jan. 9, Eastern hosts the Owls Wednesday and visits Castleton University (2-12) next Saturday.
Needing one point for 1,000, Muckle drained a three-pointer on his first shot 4:10 into the contest on a pass from sophomore guard Thomas Close (East Hampton).
Held scoreless on seven shots in the first half, senior guard Jake Collagan (Wethersfield) had 17 and Muckle 13 in the second half as the Warriors pulled away from a three-point halftime lead. In the second half, Collagan was 4-of-5 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the stripe.
Behind Collagan, Eastern outscored Plymouth, 28-14 from the foul line, including 22-7 in the second half.
Sophomore forward Seth Thomas (Norwich) sat out the final five minutes of the first half after picking up his third personal foul, but finished with ten points and a game-high eight rebounds in 25 minutes. Senior forward Jake McCarthy (Berlin), saddled with his fourth personal foul four minutes into the second half, had ten points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
Three Plymouth players – two of them starters – fouled out in the second half.
Plymouth senior guard Jaylen LeRoy – the fourth-ranked scorer in the LEC along with Collagan – led all players with 26 points, ten of them coming on 11 free throw attempts. Freshman guard Kevin Henry added 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Eastern hosts Keene State Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.