CASTLETON, Vt. – First-year guard Dominick Dao (Terryville) and senior forward Rakeesh Tibby (East Hartford) were both 5-of-5 from the floor and combined for 26 of the team's 32 first-half points as the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team led from start-to-finish in a 58-48 Little East Conference victory over Castleton University Saturday afternoon at Glenbrook Gymnasium.
Dao scored 12 of Eastern's (6-8, 3-2 LEC) first 15 points and was 5-of-5 from three-point range in the first half as the Warriors stormed to a 16-point, 32-16 halftime lead on the way to their second straight road win this year after five opening losses away from home.
Since starting 2-7 overall, Eastern has won four of its last five, recording its eighth win over Castleton (3-9, 0-4 LEC) in the nine-game series and sending the Spartans to their seventh straight loss this year.
With a game-high 26 points (9-of-13), Dao matched his career-high set a month ago at home against Plymouth State University and set a personal-best of seven three-pointers (in nine tries), which are three shy of the program's game record set by All-America Tarchee Brown (he was 10-of-10 from distance) in 2015 and equalled by Jake Collagan in 2018. Dao also had five rebounds and handed out five assists.
Tibby finished with 15 points (7-of-9 FG) with a game-high six rebounds. Senior guard Tyreice Woods (Hartford) had five assists four rebounds.
Eastern led by as many as 19 points with four minutes left in the first half and took its 16-point halftime lead into the second half, where the Spartans scored the first five points on a three-pointer from Jordan Hunt and John Walsh's inside basketball to cut the gap to 11, and later to nine with eight minutes left. At that point, Dao recorded his 19th and 20th points of the game off an assist from senior guard Max Lee (Norwich) and after the teams combined to miss five shots, Dao's sixth three-pointer of the game off a feed from Woods pushed the lead to 14, 52-38, with five minutes left.
Lee chipped in four rebounds, three assists and two steals as Eastern held Castleton to hits lowest point total of the year. Prior to Saturday, Eastern had last kept a conference opponent under 50 points in January of 2020 in a 72-46 home win over Castleton.
Eastern hosts Keene State College (13-0, 5-0 LEC) in a conference game Tuesday at 6 p.m. Ranked sixth nationally, the Owls defeated Western Connecticut, 71-68 in overtime, at home Saturday in a battle of LEC teams with overall unbeaten records. Keene trailed by eight points with just over two minutes left in regulation but forced overtime on sophomore transfer Spencer Aronson's three-point field goal inside the final 30 seconds and never trailed after Aronson opened overtime with another three-pointer.