WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior forward Tarchee Brown (Rockville) scored 18 of his team-high 20 points in the second half to lead four double-digit scorers as the No. 17 Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team won its 35th straight Little East Conference regular-season home game, 88-80, over Western Connecticut State University Wednesday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Eastern (16-2, 8-0 LEC) shot 51.7 percent from the floor in each half to defeat Western (9-8, 6-2 LEC) for the 14th straight time. Western had entered the game sharing second place in the LEC, one game behind the Warriors.
Freshman guard Cory Muckle (Westbrook) added 19 points and seven rebounds, sophomore Carlos Gonzalez (Springfield, MA) and Kendall Marquez (Willimantic) 16 points each. Junior forward Leonel Hyatt (Greenwich) led both teams with ten rebounds and Gonzalez had seven assists and six steals.
Marquez scored the 1,000th point in his four-year collegiate career on a baseline floater with 2:34 left (545 points coming at Western) to give Eastern a 79-70 lead Western junior Tyler Rowe followed a minute and 15 seconds later with the 1,000th point of his three-year career. Rowe played two seasons at Conn College before transferring to Western this year.
Rowe led all players with 21 points, Rashard Rodriguez adding 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Eastern visits Plymouth State University Saturday at 3 p.m. in a conference game.