WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team reeled off ten straight points to close a 12-point deficit in the second half and senior guard Jalen Williams (Simsbury) sank both ends of a one-and-one opportunity with 58.5 seconds left to give the Warriors their first lead of the second half as the fourth-seeded Warriors advanced to the semifinal round of the Little East Conference tournament with a 62-58 victory over fifth-seeded University of Massachusetts Boston Tuesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
With its sixth straight home win and eighth win overall in its last nine games, Eastern (14-12) advances to face top-seeded Keene State College (24-1) in Thursday semifinal round at Spaulding Gymnasium. UMass (15-11) ends its season having lost its last four road games – beginning with an 81-73 loss to Eastern exactly a month ago -- and last four games overall. Eastern improved to 6-0 in LEC tournament play against the Beacons at Geissler Gymnasium.
The Warriors survived 3-of-18 shooting from three-point range but turned the ball over only 11 times that led to only four UMB points to win the rubber game of this year's series with the Beacons to advance to the LEC semifinals for the 13th straight year.
After collecting nine points and six rebounds off the bench in 16 first-half minutes, UMass sophomore guard Emanuel Zayas started the second half but was held scoreless with just three rebounds. Williams, who missed nine of his first ten shot from the floor, led both teams with ten points in the second half.
Eastern trailed by 12 with 12 minutes left, but sank seven of eight free throws the rest of the way and finished 17-of-22 from the stripe in the game. Williams scored eight of his team-high 14 points over those final 12 minutes. Senior guard Hunter Baillargeon (Norwich) came off the bench to contribute only one three-point field goal in the second half, but it proved crucial, cutting UMB's four-point lead to one with 3:14. Williams' inside basket less than a minute early had sliced UMass' lead to four, and two minutes later, Williams canned both ends of a one-and-one opportunity to give Eastern the lead for good, 59-58, with just under a minute left.
Eastern scored the final seven points of the game over the last two minutes. On its last eight possessions, the Beacons missed four shots (three from distance) and a free throw and turned the ball over three times.
With Eastern leading 59-58 following Williams' two free throw, Eastern first-year guard Dominick Dao (Terryville) grabbed the rebound of a UMB miss but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 39.6 seconds left. UMass called timeout and inbounded at mid court, but missed the front end of a one-and-one and two subsequent shots following offensive rebounds by senior forward Malik Lorquet and Woods sank three of four free throws over the final 10.5 seconds to ensure the victory.
Williams had seven rebounds to go along with his team-high 14 points. Dao had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, Woods ten points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Senior forward Quinton Lott (Bridgeport) contributed six points, six rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes before fouling out with 24.4 seconds left and Eastern clinging to a one-point lead. Senior forward Rakesh Tibby (East Hartford), who came off the bench due to a recent injury, connected on four of five field goals and grabbed four rebounds in 23 minutes.
Lorquet, the team leader in scoring, rebounds and blocked shots, posted his national-leading 22nd double-double with 14 points and 17 rebounds and also blocked two shots. Freshman guard Xavier McKenzie, who did not play in the loss at Eastern a month ago, led all players with 15 points, with Zayas coming off the bench for nine points, six rebounds and five assists.