WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Julian Sanchez (Willimantic) and Dominick Dao (Terryville) combined for 44 points on 73.1 percent shooting from the floor but it was a suffocating defense which cut St. Mary's College of Maryland field goal shooting in half from its first-round Sunday victory as the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team rolled to a 72-45 victory in the title game of the Eastern Holiday Invitational Monday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Coming off a 98-64 first-round win over Hunter College Sunday afternoon where it scored the first 19 points of the game and shot over 60 percent from the floor, St. Mary's (7-6) never led against Eastern (8-2), falling behind by ten seven minutes into action and never fully recovering.
Trailing by 13 at halftime, the Seahawks were limited to 21 points in the second half on 30.8 percent shooting and were never able to cut the double-digit lead to single digits after Jeremiah Graham's (Jacksonville, FL) inside bucket gave Eastern an 11-point, 21-10 lead with nine minutes left in the first half.
After turning the ball over a season-low nine times in a hard-fought 67-61 first-round win over Anna Maria College, Eastern committed only ten miscues this time – five in each half – against the Seahawks, who were not able to convert any of those turnovers into baskets in being outscored 17-1 off mistakes. The 45 points were the second-fewest allowed by Eastern this year.
Named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, the 6-foot-4 in Sanchez had 21 points (9-of-13 FG), a team-high seven rebounds and only one turnover in 36 minutes Monday. Sanchez teamed with Dao, was led both teams with 23 points on 10-of-13 field goal shooting as the pair combined for well over half of the team's point total.
Six-foot-3 inch, 205 pound Sheriff Bilewu (Waterbury), the team's only senior, had six rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 26 minutes in his second start of the season. Graham connected on all four of his field goal attempts (finishing with nine points in 13 minutes) to help Eastern post a season-high shooting percentage of 58.5
In two tournament games, Sanchez averaged 19.5 points and 9.0 rebounds on 64 percent shooting from the floor and turned the ball over only once in 68 minutes; Dao averaged 17.5 points on 56 percent shooting from the floor – making five of 13 three-point attempts – and also had only one turnover. Graham shot 7-of-10 from the floor in two games and Bilewu totalled 15 rebounds, five blocks and five assists and sank all three of his field goal attempts.
In his first career appearance, 6-foot-6 inch first-year sophomore transfer Drew Soltis (Bridgeport) came off the bench to provide a first-half boost and spell Bilewu by converting two free throws and grabbing four rebounds in three minutes.
St. Mary's, which featured six double-digit scorers in its first-day win, managed only two against Eastern in freshman guard Tjay Beckles (11 points) and 6-foot-4 inch sophomore guard Kyree Smith (10). The pair managed to shoot just 26.9 percent (7-of-26) in getting to double figures. Six-foot-six inch freshman forward Yassine Idrisso, who led his team with 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting against Hunter, was limited to four shots and six points and five rebounds. Six-foot-6 inch junior Jake Coverman had eight points and eight rebounds.
Eastern (0-2 LEC) visits the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in a 3 p.m. Little East Conference game Saturday at the Tripp Athletic Center.
Consolation Game
Anna Maria College 85, Hunter College 82, ot
Anna Maria (3-8) posted a wild overtime victory in a game which featured 158 shots (59 three-point attempts) and 98 rebounds. Hunter (2-9) led by as many as 14 a minute into the second half and held the lead for all but six minutes. The Hawks never trailed until only three minutes remained in the game. Down by a pair, Hunter forced overtime on Sal Saputo's two free throws with five second left.
Anna Maria (3-8) never trailed in overtime, riding Ray Carter's opening three-point field goal to the victory. In overtime, Hunter missed all nine of its attempts, with Gabriel Armstead's two free throws with 13 seconds left icing the win.
Carter (27 points) and Armstead (21) combined for 48 points for Anna Maria, with Armstead sharing game-high honors with teammate Nolan Serafin with 11 rebounds. In addition to his team-high point total on 50 percent field goal shooting, Carter had seven rebounds and seven assists and only two turnover sin 36 minutes.
Hunter junior guard Sal Saputo – the tournament scoring leader with 54 points – led four double-digit scorers with a game-high 30 points (11-of-24 FG) and team-high ten rebounds in 40 minutes. In the opening-round loss to St. Mary's, Saputo had 24 points and nine rebounds.