BIDDEFORD, Maine – As a first-year player on a veteran team last year, 6-foot-7 inch forward Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford) rarely saw the court.
If the early returns are any indication, the sophomore will rarely leave it this year.
Sunday, in the consolation game of the University of New England Jim Beaudry Classic, Hamblin scored more points than he did in 12 games a year ago, totalling 29 points and grabbing half as many rebounds (13) as he did in limited minutes last year and leading the Warriors (1-2) to their first win of the season, 92-70, over first-time opponent Medgar Evers College at the Harold Alfond Center.
Despite playing without top returning scorer Dominick Dao (Terryville), Eastern used a 51-point second half as a springboard to its highest scoring game since a 112-54 win over Vermont State Lyndon on Feb. 14, 2021. The Warriors scored the final nine points of the game to expand the final margin to the largest of the game.
As the only returning player from a year ago in a starting lineup which included three freshmen, Hamblin led both teams in points and rebounds and was joined in double figures by junior transfer guard Ty Calloway (Enfield), first-year forward Jeremiah Graham (Jacksonville, FL) and senior guard Cade Ensinger (Deep River).
Hamblin, who represented Eastern on the all-tournament with two-game totals of 33 points (14-of-23 FG), 17 rebounds, two blocked shots and only two turnovers in 61 minutes, was 12-of-18 from the floor against Medgar Evers (1-2).
In a back-and-forth first half where neither team led by more than six points -- a 13-2 Cougar run turning a six-point Eastern lead into a five-point deficit with six minutes left – Hamblin single-handedly kept the Warriors afloat by scoring nearly half (18) of the team's 41 points on 8-of-10 field goal shooting, and grabbing more than one-third (8) of their 21 rebounds.
Leading by four points at halftime, Eastern jumped quickly in the second half with a 9-2 burst that gave it a double-digit lead (50-39) that would never dip below eight the rest of the way. That early scoring run was fueled by a pair of quick buckets from first-year guard Elijah Jean-Guillaume (New Haven), the first three-pointer of the season from Ensinger (on one of junior guard Dan Wellington's (Bridgeport) game-high nine assists) and an inside basket by Hamblin off a pass from Jean-Guillaume.
In that 51-point second half, Hamblin and Graham each had 11 points and five rebounds. Ensinger, the team's most experienced player, chipped in six points (3-for-4 FT) and four rebounds in playing all 20 second-half minutes, and Wellington handed out five assists.
After the Cougars cut four points off Eastern's lead to pull to within 13 with three minutes left, Calloway drained a three-pointer off a feed from Wellington to restore a 16-point lead, and first-year guard Pedro Perry (New London) recorded his first collegiate points on his first shot to cap the victory with a three-pointer in the final seconds.
Calloway finished with 14 points (6-of-12 FG), two assists and two steals and Graham totalled 12 points and nine rebounds. Ensinger scored his first points of the season with 12 and also contributed five rebounds and no turnovers in 29 minutes. Making his first career start, Wellington added eight points, four rebounds and four steals to his nine assists in a career-high 30 minutes.
Eastern shot 50 percent in the game for the second time in three games this year, sank nearly half (9-of-20) of its three-pointers, outrebounded Medgar Evers by eight, and turned the ball over only four times in the second half and 13 in the game.
Medgar Evers all-tournament pick Dante Simmons led the Cougars with 19 points (7-of-12 FG), eight rebounds and only one turnover in 37 minutes.
Eastern had opened the tournament Saturday evening with a 70-57 loss to Wheaton College while the Cougars – 5-20 a year ago when they allowed an average of 86 points a game -- were bumped by host New England, 88-77, in Saturday's first round.
Eastern opens its home season Wednesday at 7 p.m. in a non-conference game against Western New England University at Geissler Gym.