WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- Junior guard Cory Muckle (Westbrook) completed a 22-point second half by swishing a three-point field goal from the top of the key for the winning points with 3.3 seconds left to carry the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team to an 87-83 Little East Conference victory over the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Tuesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Held scoreless in the first half, Muckle helped Eastern (5-7, 1-2 LEC) back from 11 points down late in the first half by sinking three three pointers in the first six minutes of the second half in sparking a 13-3 run to give the Warriors a two-point lead.
In a game which featured 21 lead changes and 11 ties, Muckle splashed his sixth three-pointer of the second half in as many attempts to vault the Warriors into an 85-83 lead with 3.3 seconds left. Needing to go the length of the floor, UMass Dartmouth (7-6, 2-2 LEC) threw the inbounds pass away and sophomore forward Seth Thomas (Norwich) iced the win by connecting on both ends of a one-and-one opportunity.
The win was the 300th in the 18-year career of Eastern head coach Bill Geitner (300-185), who has led Eastern to nine 20-win seasons in the last ten years, at least a share of the last six LEC regular-season titles and three LEC tournament titles.
Led by Muckle, Eastern bounced back from 36.7 percent first-half shooting for a 65.6 percent effort in the second half to finish at 51.6.
In the second half, Muckle was 8-of-8 from the floor en route to 22 points. Senior guard Jake Collagan (Wethersfield), who converted three free throws after time expired in the first half to cut UMD's halftime lead to 
eight, led all players with 23 points (9-of-9 from the foul line). Sophomore forward Seth Thomas (Norwich) had 16 points and 13 rebounds – his third double-double in the last five games. Collagan is 35-of-43 from the stripe this season.
Sophomore forward Sharown Fowler's (Springfield, MA) inside bucket off the seventh assist of the game by sophomore point guard Thomas Close (East Hampton) – returning to the lineup after missing three straight games -- with a minute left gave Eastern an 82-81 lead. Thomas then yanked down a UMD missed three-pointer but the Warriors gave it back by missing the front end of a one-and-one with 31.5 seconds left. Coming out of a timeout, UMD junior guard Jake Ashworth then nailed a go-ahead three-pointer with 10.8 seconds left to push UMD into its 83-82 lead. The Warriors then drove the length of the floor to set up Muckle's game-winning three-pointer.
At left: Head coach Bill Geitner chats with ETV Sports' Jarrett Soltis after registering his 300th coaching victory following Tuesday's 87-83 win over UMass Dartmouth at Geissler Gym.
Sophomore guard Marcus Azor led four UMass double-digit scorers with 18 points and nine rebounds, with sophomore guard Adam Seablom sparking the Corsairs with nine of his 13 points in the second half. Ashworth followed with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists, and freshman guard Taylor Carlson came off the bench for ten points for UMD, which has lost three straight this year and ten of its last 12 at Geissler Gym.
Eastern visits Keene State college Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in a matchup of the last three LEC tournament title games, two of them won by the Warriors.