WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Junior guard Jake Collagan (Wethersfield) tied the program three-point field goal mark of ten -- finishing with a career-high 36 points -- to help carry the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team to a 93-70 non-conference win over Connecticut College in its home-opener Tuesday night at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
In the first half, Collagan nailed seven three-pointers en route to 23 points and Eastern's (2-1) defense scored 26 points off 17 Conn College (1-2) in building a 22-point halftime lead. The Warriors led by as many as 27 in the first half and the second-half lead never dipped below the 22-point halftime margin after junior point guard Carlos Gonzalez (Springfield, MA) opened the second half with a three-pointer and junior guard Cory Muckle (Westbrook) stole the ball and converted on the other end to push the advantage to 27, 56-29, two minutes into the second half.
Collagan's three-point total – four more than his previous best at Eastern – tied the record set by Tarchee Brown, who was 10-of-10 from distance en route to a program-record 44 points Nov. 22, 2015 at Ramapo College.
Collagan was 12-of-21 against Conn, 10-of-18 from long range. He also had five assists in 32 minutes.
Muckle followed with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Gonzalez 14 points, four steals and three assists.
Eastern forced 24 turnovers and outscored the Camels off those miscues by 27 points (36-9).
Senior forward David Labossiere (Stoneham, MA) led Conn with 15 points and five rebounds and sophomore forward Dan Draffan (Hamden) and junior forward Patrick Lazor (West Hartford) added 11 each. Lazor played 17 minutes off the bench.
Led by Draffan (5-of-6), Conn outscored Eastern by 15 points from the foul line, where it was 24-of-31.
Eastern holds a 20-9 advantage in the all-time series and has won eight of the last ten, although the Camels had posted an 83-81 overtime decision over the Warriors when the teams last met two years ago at Geissler Gymnasium.
Eastern visits Wesleyan University Sunday at 1 p.m. in a non-conference game.