WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior guard Tyreice Woods (Hartford) scored six of his game total of eight points inside the final minute to help the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team hold off a late charge from the University of Massachusetts Boston for an 81-73 Little East Conference victory Saturday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Eastern (7-11, 4-5 LEC) never trailed after the first three minutes but needed a season-best 23-of-29 effort from the foul line (19-of-24 in the second half) to stave off the comeback bid of UMass Boston (13-5, 6-3 LEC), which entered play having won nine of its last ten and having downed the Warriors by nine in the LEC opener for both teams Dec. 3.
Eastern, which couldn't hold a 20-point first-half lead against Western Connecticut in an overtime loss three days ago, led by 19 late in the first half Saturday and survived the Beacons' 50-point second half sparked by 50 percent shooting from the floor and 16 points by junior guard Bobby Joy and ten off the bench from sophomore forward Ike Eluwa.
In the second half, Woods, senior guard Jalen Williams (Simsbury) and first-year player Dominick Dao (Terryville) combined to go 13-of-14 from the foul line, and senior forward Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford) sank just enough (6-of-10) to keep the Warriors in front.
Eastern led by 15 with five minutes left and ten with four minutes left but needed Woods' only three-point field goal of the game to keep UMass at bay after an inside bucket by sophomore guard Emanuel Zayas cut the Eastern lead to four, 73-69, with just over a minute left. After Tibby rebounded a missed UMass attempt, Woods then sank two free throws with 26.0 seconds left to push the Eastern lead by to ten, 79-69.
Tibby, who battled UMass scoring and rebounding leader Malik Lorquet in the paint all afternoon, led Eastern with 19 points (6-of-12 FG) and both teams with ten rebounds for his third double-double in the last ten games. Williams and Dao (5-of-6 FG) each had 16 points and Woods added 12 points in 16 minutes. Senior guard Max Lee (Norwich) had eight rebounds and three assists.
Eluwa, averaging six points a game, led all players with 21 points (7-of-12 FG) and added seven rebounds. Joy (7-of-11 FG) scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half. Zayas had 14 points before fouling out with 36.5 seconds left and Lorquet finished with ten points (but was 5-of-20 from the floor), a team-high eight rebounds and five blocked shots.
UMass, second in the LEC in free throw percentage, shot under 50 percent (7-of-15) from the line and was outscored by 16 from the stripe.
Eastern finished with a +13 advantage in free throws, out-rebounding its opponent for the fifth time in the last six games despite starting only one player (Tibby) taller than 6-foot-4. After turning the ball over a season-high 27 times against Western, the Warriors committed only 15 Saturday and led to only 11 UMass Boston points.
With the loss, UMass drops 1 ½ games behind second-place Western Connecticut in the LEC standings. Eastern entered play sharing sixth place (the final LEC tournament slot) and is now locked in a three-way tie for fifth place with the University of Southern Maine and Rhode Island College. USM lost to LEC leader Keene State College and Rhode Island downed Castleton University.
Eastern hosts the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Wednesday at 7 p.m.