WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The Western Connecticut State University men's basketball team used an effective full court press through the game to record 18 steals and turn 28 Eastern Connecticut State University turnovers into 32 points as the Wolves raced to a 78-67 Little East Conference victory over Eastern Connecticut State University Wednesday afternoon at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Last year's LEC tournament finalist and ranked second in the conference pre-season poll, WestConn (7-6, 3-1 LEC) won its fourth game in five tries this year on its opponents' home court while Eastern (9-3, 1-3 LEC) had a three-game overall winning streak stopped. Since losing 16 straight in the series, WestConn has won seven of the last 11 and the last three over the Warriors.

WestConn forced 16 turnovers to take a six-point halftime lead and scored six straight points in the second half to expand a six-point lead and move out to its first double-digit lead, 58-48 with 11 minutes left in the game. The Warriors never got closer than eight thereafter, with the Wolves scoring ten in a row to amass its largest lead of the game (19), 76-57, with three minutes left. The Wolves shot 56.7 percent from the floor in the second half, 51.7 percent for the game.

Four players finished in double figures in WestConn's balanced attack, with eight players scoring between eight and 15 points. Jordan Belcher had 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds, and Tayejon Lynch 11 points and four assists for the winners. Belcher is the only WestConn player this year ranked in the LEC Top 20 in scoring as the Wolves rely on their defense (third in the LEC) and balanced scoring. The LEC leader in defense, Eastern allowed 15 points above its seaspm average.

Both teams were playing without one of their top two scorers.

Eastern's Dominick Dao (Terryville) led all players with 19 points. Dao was limited to six points in the second half, however,  after tossing in 13 in the first on the strength of four three-point field goals. Cedrick Similien (Norwich) had 11 points and Esco Greene (New Britain) came off the bench for nine points in 14 minutes. Julian Sanchez (Willimantic) had seven points and seven rebounds and point guard Michael Carothers (Queens, NY) seven points, five rebounds and four assists.

Eastern  hosts Keene State College Tuesday at 4 p.m.