WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- It's called piling on.
In the midst of its most disappointing season in nearly 30 years, the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team became the unwilling victim when VTSU Castleton shed a 38-game Little East Conference regular-season losing streak with a 75-68 victory Thursday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Eastern (3-12, 0-6 LEC) never led and trailed by nine at halftime, but bounced back from a 13-point Castleton (5-10, 1-5 LEC) lead in the opening minutes of the second half to cut it to one when first-year guard Elijah Jean-Guillaume (New Haven) sank a pair of free throws and first-year junior guard Ty Calloway (Enfield) scored inside following sophomore guard Dominick Dao's (Terryville) block and first-year guard Cedrick Similien (Norwich) that made it 58-57 with just over five minutes left.
As quickly as it took the momentum, however, Eastern gave it back. Following Calloway's bucket in the paint, Eastern had a chance to take its first lead on a steal by Similien, but the Warriors couldn't convert in the paint, and from there, it went downhill fast.
After Eastern missed the opportunity to surge in front, Castleton reeled off nine unanswered points and re-gained its double-double lead, 67-57. In that streak, the visitors went 4-of-5 from the floor, with graduate guards Joe Russell and Scott Lampron tossing it two field goals each.
While the Spartans were applying the touches to the most decisive minutes of the game, Eastern was missing four shots and turning the ball over twice on its next six possessions before senior guard Cade Ensinger (Deep River) ended the draught with his first of two three-pointers in the final 90 seconds that made it 67-60.
Castleton preserved the win by scoring its final eight points of the game (in 12 attempts) from the foul line over the final minutes. It marked the team's only free-throw attempts in the game, while Eastern buried 10-of-11.
The Spartans survived 23 turnovers and a 19-6 differential on the offensive glass by shooting 56.4 percent from the floor, including 60.7 percent when they built their nine-point halftime lead. The majority of Castleton's points, especially in the first half, came on uncontested layups, illustrating its 52-28 scoring advantage in the paint in the game.
Russell was 11-of-15 from the floor and led all players with 25 points. Lampron added 16 points (6-of-12 FG, 4-of-6 from the distance)) and sophomore forward Will Radcliff had 13 points (6-of-7 FG) and eight rebounds.
Calloway and sophomore forward Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford) each had 13 points and Similien contributed seven points, seven steals, five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes in his starting debut.
Eastern visits Plymouth State University Saturday at 3 p.m.