PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Despite playing with tangibly little at stake, the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team came within a key basket down the stretch of avenging an earlier 33-point home loss to Rhode Island College, eventually dropping a 69-62 Little East Conference decision Wednesday evening at The Murray Center.
After winning six of its first eight LEC games, Rhode Island (7-8, 14-10 LEC) was able to halt a four-game conference losing streak as it swept Eastern (5-19, 2-13 LEC) in the season series, the Warriors finishing with a 2-9 record on its opponent's home court. The Warriors had stopped a six-game losing streak Saturday with a 70-62 LEC win over VTSU Castleton.
Eastern trailed by 13 midway through the second half but outscored the Anchormen, 22-10 over 8+ minutes to pull to within a point, 62-61 when junior Ty Calloway (Enfield) turned a steal into a basket with a minute left, but RIC used expert free throw shooting (7-of-8) the rest of the way to hold on. Mike Paquette sank four in a row and five of six from the stripe to give his team a 67-62 lead, and Isaiah Dahl added a pair in the final 15 seconds.
Trailing by three at halftime, Eastern gained the equalizer, 28-28, on sophomore Dominick Dao's (Terryville) three-point field goal off a defensive rebound from sophomore Julian Sanchez (Willimantic), but the hosts responded by reeling off 12 straight points to up the lead to 12, 40-28, three minutes into the half. Dahl got it going with a pair of three-pointers – the second coming off his own steal – and 6-foot-6 inch senior Ousmane Kourouma scored twice inside in that stretch.
Six-foot-3 inch, 210 pound Eastern junior Sheriff Bilewu (Waterbury), one of Eastern's few weapons inside to neutralize Kourouoma down low, had four rebounds and three blocks but lasted only 21 minutes before fouling out. First-year guards Elijah Jean-Guillaume (New Haven) and Pedro Perry (New London) came off the bench to lead Eastern offensively with 16 and 12 points, respectively. Jean-Guillame added five steals and ten rebounds – posting season-highs in points, rebounds, steals and minutes (25) -- and first-semester sophomore transfer guard Michael Carothers (Queens, NY) contributed four assists. Sanchez added nine rebounds and two steals in 14 minutes.
Dahl of RIC led all players with 17 points, Kourouma adding 16 and Paquette ten. Dahl and Paquette combined on 11-of-13 shooting from the stripe.
Eastern closes out the season Saturday hosting Plymouth State University at 1 p.m. The Warriors used a late finish to upend the Panthers, 72-71 in overtime when the teams met Jan. 13 at Foley Gymnasium.