PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team limited three Plymouth State University starters to just ten points, but the Panthers got 20 or more from three other players in handing the Warriors their first Little East Conference loss, 78-73, Saturday afternoon at Foley Gymnasium.
In a game which featured 11 lead changes, Plymouth (7-4, 2-1 LEC) broke the tenth and final tie with five minutes left, and minutes later, ran off six straight points on three inside buckets set up by three straight Eastern (6-4, 2-1 LEC) misses (two of them three-pointers) to extend its lead to eight, 75-67, with 43 seconds left.
While it has won five of six at home -- including a physical 75-73 LEC decision over defending champion UMass Dartmouth three days ago -- Eastern has now dropped three of four on the road. The Warriors had beaten Plymouth the last seven times the teams had met and in 20 of the last 21 contests.
Plymouth lefty shooter Kyler Bosse, a 6-foot-4 inch sophomore guard out of Bridgton Academy, was unstoppable in his first start of the season. The LEC leader in field goal percentage (.660) led both teams with 26 points and topped Plymouth with ten rebounds in 37 minutes. He was 12-of-15 from the floor. Senior guard Dante Rivera had 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and junior guard Giorgi Tsiklauri had all 20 of Plymouth's bench points on 6-of-13 shooting from the floor in 35 minutes. He was 5-of-7 from the foul line and matched Rivera with three three-pointers.
Plymouth's final 51.6 shooting percentage was the most by an Eastern opponent since Yeshiva University, the No. 1 team in the nation, shot 55 percent in a 30-point win in the season-opener.
Four Eastern starters averaged 38 minutes, allowing four non-starters to combine for only four points in 23 minutes (junior forward Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford) scored all four bench points and grabbed six rebounds in 14 minutes.
Senior guards Tyreice Woods (Hartford), Cory Muckle (Westbrook) and Thomas Close (East Hampton) and sophomore guard Max Lee (Norwich) combined for 62 of the team's points.
Woods, who was also assigned to shadow Rivera, had 18 points, Muckle 17 points and a season-high 13 rebounds, and Close 15 points and six assists. Coming off the program's first triple-double in 15 years against UMass Dartmouth, Lee had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Eastern faces Anna Maria College Dec. 30 at 3 p.m. in the opening round of the Eastern Holiday Invitational.