WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team came back from 12 points down in the first half to lead by seven points with six minutes left, but missed a key free throw in the final 30 seconds that helped Western New England University emerge with a 79-78 non-conference win Wednesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Until Gavin Greene scored what proved to be the winning points for Western New England (2-1) on an inside bucket with10.8 seconds left, Eastern had never trailed after senior Cade Ensinger (Deep River) stuck his third three-pointer of the game off a pass from sophomore Dominick Dao (Terryville) to tie the game at 60-all with ten minutes left.
Coming out of a timeout and trailing by one, Eastern (1-3) inbounded from 94 feet away but never got a shot off, losing control of the ball near the left arc as time expired.
Leading by three with 1:44 left, Eastern missed an inside attempt and a minute later the front end of a 1-and-1 with 25 seconds left. Down by those three points, Western New England couldn't convert a key inside attempt, but Jamani Alves grabbed his own miss and put it back in to cut Eastern's lead to 78-77 with 1:22 left. The Golden Bears missed consecutive three-point attempts that allowed the Warriors to maintain their one-point lead, but Jake Harrison (26 points, 13 rebounds, six assists) grabbed the rebound when Eastern missed its free throw that set up WNE's winning basket.
Greene and Harrison combined for 47 of the Golden Bears' points, 23 of their 31 rebounds and 11 of their 15 assists and were a combined 20-of-29 from the floor. Greene followed his 6-foot-5 inch teammate with 21 points, ten rebounds and five assists.
Eastern, which committed only 11 turnovers, got effective play off the bench from Ensinger, 5-foot-7 inch junior guard Dan Wellington (Bridgeport) and 6-foor-3 inch junior forward Sheriff Bilewu (Waterbury). Wellington led Eastern in points (18), rebounds (7) and assists (seven) in 26 minutes, with Bilewu enjoying a career game with eight points (4-of-5 FG), five rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 28 minutes.
Six-foot-seven inch Jalen Hamblin (West Hartford) followed Wellington with 16 points, sinking 8-of-11 field goals to spark the team's 54.1 percent shooting from the floor. Dao picked up two fouls in the first ten minutes but did not foul thereafter. He totalled 11 points, five assists and three steals. Ensinger matched Dao with 11 points (3-of-4 from three-point range) – all in the second half.
The Golden Bears raced to a ten-point lead seven minutes into play behind early 9-of-14 shooting, getting three-point field goals from Mike Resnick and Harrison, and led by 12 with 7:30 left in the half before Eastern rallied in its home-opener. Down by ten late in the half, Eastern countered with six straight points on a pair of inside buckets by Bilewu and Dao's steal and driving layup that made it 31-27 five minutes before intermission.
Trailing by five at halftime, Eastern again fell behind by eight in the opening minutes of the second half and was down by seven six minutes into the half before tying it, 60-60, on Ensinger's swish from behind the arc with ten minutes left during a 14-2 run that was capped by another Ensinger three-point that made it 69-62 with 6:30 left.
Eastern visits Springfield College Tuesday for a non-conference game at 5 p.m.