DANBURY, Conn. – First-year guard Dominick Dao's (Terryville) three-point field goal eight minutes into the game shot the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team into the lead for good and the surging Warriors emerged from a foul-plagued game with an 81-75 Little East Conference victory over Western Connecticut State University Wednesday night at Feldman Arena that assured the Warriors of a first-round LEC tournament home game.
In becoming only second team to defeat WestConn (21-3, 12-3 LEC) on its home court this year, Eastern (13-12, 10-6 LEC) maintained its hold on third place in the conference and closed out the regular season by winning at least ten LEC regular-season games for the 11th time in the last 12 non-Covid seasons.
Eastern's season-high fourth straight win and seventh in its last eight games guarantees the Warriors of a first-round tournament home game as either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed. A loss by the University of Southern Maine Saturday against unbeaten LEC leader Keene State College on the final day of the LEC regular season gives Eastern sole possession of third place in the conference and the No. 3 seed and a first-round game at home against the No. 6 seed. A USM win over Keene gives the Huskies a share of third place with Eastern in the final conference standings.
Eastern climbed over .500 for the first time this year and closed out the regular season by winning 11 of its final 16 games following a 2-7 start.
WestConn had climbed out of a 20-point hole late in the first half to post a 98-91 overtime victory over Eastern a month ago in Willimantic. Now 12-2 at home, Western had already nailed down the No. 2 tournament seed and first-round bye into the semifinals prior to Wednesday's game. Until Wednesday, WestConn's only two conference losses this year have come against Keene State, in overtime at Keene Jan. 7 and by 16 Feb. 4 at home.
It marked the fourth time in a month that Eastern won the back-end of the season series with an LEC opponent after losing first meeting, but it was the time that the Warriors won the second game of the series on the road. Since losing its first five road games this year, Eastern has won four of its last six away from home.
In the overtime win over Eastern earlier this year, WestConn survived senior guard Jalen Williams' (Simsbury) career-high 37 points and 22 from Dao by placing five players in double figures and recording 17 steals that led to a season-high 27 Eastern turnovers.
Wednesday, Eastern cut its turnovers in half and never trailed after Dao connected on one of his four three-point field goals that broke the early 13-13 tie.The teams combined for 49 personal fouls which led to a combined 61 free throw attempts. Eastern was 18-of-26 from the stripe while WestConn was 21-of-35.
WestConn scored the first five points of the game but Eastern answered quickly with consecutive three-point field goals by Williams. Eastern led by five at the half and maintained a slim lead through the second half. The Warriors clung to a three-point, 60-57 lead with just over six minutes left, but Dao canned a three-pointer and Woods turned a WestConn turnover into two more points to make it an eight-point game a minute later. After the Wolves sank one of two free throws, Lott grabbed his own miss and put back in as the lead surged to nine, 67-58 with five minutes left. A pair of free throws by Wood pushed the lead to double-digits (70-60) with 3:35 left.
Senior guard Tyreice Woods (Hartford), Williams and Dao teamed to score 57 points on 17-of-36 fielding goal shooting. The trio converted nine of 19 three-point field goals and were 14-of-20 from the foul line.
Starting in place of injury 6-foot-7 inch forward Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford) – who had 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the Jan. 18 home loss to WestConn -- senior forward Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) owned the boards with a career-high 19 rebounds in 30 minutes to help the Warriors out-rebound the taller Wolves for the second time this year. In his first start in a month, Lott also had 11 points in posting his first double-double since Nov. 22. In the overtime loss to WestConn Jan. 18, Lott had just two points and one rebound in 13 minutes off the bench.