GORHAM, Maine --  The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team came from six points back in the final 30 seconds of regulation to force overtime and from five points behind to tie the game late in overtime before dropping a 95-93 Little East Conference decision to the University of Southern Maine Saturday afternoon at the Warren Hill Gymnasium.

 

En route to tying the program game record of 44 points, senior guard Jake Collagan (Wethersfield) tied the game 93-93 with a three-pointer with 20 seconds remaining in overtime -- giving him seven of the team's 11 points in the extra session.

 

Collagan, whose previous high was 36 points, helped send the game into overtime when he stole the ball and set up sophomore guard Thomas Close (East Hampton) for a game-tying three-pointer in front of the Eastern bench with 3.6 seconds left in regulation that made it 82-all.

 

Along with Close and sophomore forward Sharown Fowler (Springfield, MA), Collagan played all 45 minutes. In addition to his point total which came on 12-of-33 shooting from the floor (4-of-10 from distance) and 16-18 free throws, Collagan had seven steals, seven assists and six rebounds with only two turnovers.

 

Making his first career start, Fowler totalled a career-high 17 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds for the second straight game. He scored 11 of his points on 13 free throws. Close chipped in 12 points, three steals and three rebounds.

 

Despite playing without two of its top three scorers, Eastern led most of the first half and by ten with six minutes left before intermission before the Huskies closed the half on a 23-6 scoring run that gave them a seven-point halftime lead.

 

USM appeared to be in control in the final minutes of regulation before Eastern rallied for the tying points. Collagan's fourth personal foul of the game led to two USM free throws that made it 78-72. After the teams combined to fail on their next five shots, Eastern called time with 1:12 left. Collagan then hit two free throws after stealing the ball and getting fouled to make it 78-74 and later drained three free throws after being fouled on a three-point try that made it 82-79. He then stole the inbounds pass and found Close for his game-tying three-pointer with 3.6 seconds left.

 

Although Collagan's three-pointer with 20 seconds left in overtime forced a tie, the Warriors never led in the extra session after the hosts struck quickly for the first five points.

Southern Maine (7-9, 2-6 LEC) sealed its first win in the last seven games again Eastern (7-9, 3-4 LEC) when it broke pressure following Collagan's game-tying three-pointer, and senior guard Jaire Roberts scored underneath with 2.7 seconds left in overtime.

 

Collagan became the fifth player in program history to score as many as 40 points in a game when he sank two free throws late in overtime to pull Eastern to within three, 91-88, then tied Tarchee Brown's game record of 44 points set Nov. 22, 2015 against Ramapo with his fourth three-point field goal of the game that tied it at 93-all with 20 seconds left.

Southern Maine first-year sophomore transfer guard Jacobe Thomas -- the LEC's second-leading scorer -- had 31 points, six rebounds and five assists in 45 minutes, while Roberts contributed 24 points, six rebounds, five assists and four blocks in 38 minutes. Senior guard Keenan Hendricks came off the bench for  17 points in 25 minutes.  He was 5-of-6 from the floor (3-of-4 from distance) and 4-of-4 from the line. Thomas and Hendricks combined for the final 20 points in USM's decisive 23-6 run ended the first half.

Eastern reached a season-high 90 points for the third time in the last five meetings with USM. 

 

Having already reached 1,000 points earlier this year in a four-year career which included a freshman season at Keene State College, Collagan moved to within 20 points of accumulating 1,000 points in his three-year Eastern career.

 

Eastern hosts Castleton University in a conference game Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.