BOSTON – The University of Massachusetts Boston burst to a 14-point lead in the opening ten minutes and Eastern Connecticut State University never got closer than seven the rest of the way in the Beacons' 67-58 victory in the Little East Conference men's basketball opener for both schools Saturday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center.

With its fourth loss in as many road games this year, Eastern (2-6) has lost as many as four in a row overall for the first time since February of 2010. Since winning 23 in a row against UMass (4-2), the Warriors have lost four of the last six.

Eastern shot 25.0 percent from the floor while UMass shot nearly 50 percent in the first half and the Warriors trailed by 12 at the break. The Beacons upped the lead to as many as 17 midway through the second half before Eastern rallied to a degree, cutting the gap to eight with six minutes left and to seven with 2:18 remaining on first-year guard Dominick Dao's (Terryville) three-pointer that made it 63-56. The Warriors had a chance to pull closer after a UMass missed free throw but failed on a three-pointer and freshman guard Xavier McKenzie sank two free throws to make it a nine-point game with 1:37 left.

In its run of six straight points that whittled a 14-point deficit to eight with six minutes left, Dao hit a jumper off a rebound from junior guard Chris Jones (Coventry), senior forward Rakeesh Tibby (East Hartford) put in a driving layup off a rebound by Dao, and senior guard Tyreice Woods (Hartford) made it 61-53 with a hoop in the paint off of Tibby's rebound. At that point, Eastern could not capitalize after UMB failed on three straight three-point attempts. With possession after the third miss, Eastern turned the ball over and McKenzie sank two free throws with four minutes left to restore the Beacons' ten-point lead.

Eastern shot just 14.3 percent on 21 three-point attempts. The Warriors turned the ball over only ten times for the second straight game but the Beacons capitalized with 16 points off those miscues.

Tibby was 6-of-8 from the floor and led Eastern with 12 points to go along with seven rebounds. Senior forward Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) had 11 points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes. McKenzie and sophomore guard Emanuel Zayas each had 17 points for the Beacons, with Zayas grabbing seven rebounds. Senior forward Malik Lorquet had 15 points (7-of-10 FG), eight rebounds and four blocks for the winners.

Eastern visits the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in a conference game Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.