PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Sophomore guard Benjamin Toussaint (Bellmore, NY) scored a career-high 12 points in his first career start and senior forward Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford) tied his career high with 18 points off the bench in Eastern Connecticut State University's 73-64 Little East Conference men's basketball win over Rhode Island College Wednesday evening at The Murray Center.
Eastern (5-8, 2-2 LEC) never trailed and led by as many as 20 with three minutes left in the first half before Rhode Island (4-9, 2-3 LEC) got back in the game with a 9-0 run early in the second half, and later chopped the lead two on two occasions, the second time at 63-61 with just over two minutes left.
Toussaint, whose three-pointer had given Eastern a seven-point lead with six minutes left, followed with his second three-pointer with 2:17 left after the Anchormen had pulled to within two for the second time to make it 66-61. Sparked by Toussaint's second three-pointer, Eastern closed the game on a 10-3 run. Tibby scored on a putback with 1:30 left that made it 69-61 and followed with a free throw moments later. Toussaint then grabbed the rebound of a Rhode Island missed three-pointer and senior guard Tyreice Woods (Hartford) found an open lane to the hoop for an uncontested layup that restored Eastern's double-digit lead (71-61) with 35 seconds left.
In handing Rhode Island its third straight loss and posting their fourth straight win against the Anchorwomen (and tenth in the last 13 contests), the Warriors won for the third time in four games, the loss in that stretch coming by five points to No. 9 ranked Middlebury College last Friday.
Eastern opened the game against Rhode Island by scoring the first seven points on the way to a 44-point half and 17-point lead, with Tibby's putback eight minutes into action give the Warriors a double-digit, 19-9, lead. A 10-2 scoring burst later in the half – starting with first-year guard Dominick Dao's (Terryville) only three-point of the game and closing with Woods' free throw – gave Eastern its largest lead of the game at 20 points, 40-20, with three minutes left before the half.
Tibby connected on all eight of his shots from the floor en route to his team-high point total and also led Eastern with ten rebounds and three blocked shots, giving him a second double-double in three games. Tibby (12 points) and Toussaint (8) combined to score 20 of Eastern's 29 second-half points. Toussaint also finished with a career-high eight rebounds in a career-high 31 minutes.
Woods finished with 12 points and Dao 11 (4-of-4 FT). The pair ignited the double-digit first-half lead when they combined on 19 points. Senior forward Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) grabbed eight rebounds and Woods handed out five assists and had three steals.
Freshman guard Anthony Rivera of Rhode Island led both teams with 21 points, with 6-foot-6 inch junior center Ousmane Kourouma scoring 11 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds before fouling out with 1:12 left and his team trailing by seven. Freshman guard Nathaniel Maldonado had 16 points for the Anchormen, ten in the second half.
Eastern played without senior guard Jalen Williams (Simsbury), the team scoring leader who is ranked sixth in the LEC with a 17.4 average and third in the LEC in free throw percentage (81.6).
Eastern visits Castleton University Saturday at 3 p.m. in a conference game.