With the win, Eastern Connecticut nabs its fifth straight victory and improves to 20-5 overall and finishes the 2013-2014 Little East Conference season undefeated with a record of 14-0.  Southern Maine falls to 7-18 overall and 3-11 in the Little East Conference.

Eastern Connecticut the 2013-2014 Little East Conference regular season champion earns the first seed in the upcoming LEC Championship Tournament.  The Warriors will hosts eighth seed UMass Boston on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.).  Southern Maine is the seventh seed and will travel to second seed Rhode Island College on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.).

Preston scored 12 of his 24 points in the second half, including six points in a key Warrior run to lead the Warriors. Senior Mike Garrow (Terryville, Conn.) added 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists.  Freshman Hugh Lindo (Enfield, Conn.) chipped in with seven points and six rebounds.

Southern Maine senior Conor Sullivan (Scarborough, Maine) paced the Huskies with 18 points and eight rebounds.  Sullivan was 7-for-13 from the field. With his first basket of the game, Sullivan became the 25th player in Huskies' men's basketball history to reach the 1000-point plateau.  After today's game, Sullivan stands at 1015 career points.  Senior Tyler Penney (Barnstead, N.H./Bishop Brady) added 14 points and eight rebounds on 7-for-14 shooting.  Sophomore Jacob Littlefield (Mechanic Falls, Maine/Poland Regional) chipped in with nine points off of the bench. 

After a nip and tuck first half that featured six tied scores and three lead changes, the Warriors held a narrow 30-29 lead over the Huskies at the break.  Preston had 12 points for the Warriors, while Sullivan had 13 points for the Huskies.

The game remained in a back-and-forth contest to open the second stanza.  A fast-break dunk by senior James Odneal (Pontiac, Mich.) after a steal and an assist from Penney and a power layup from freshman Fred Knight (Hampden, Maine) had the Huskies trailing the Warriors 42-39 with 13:39 on the clock.  The Warriors responded however outscoring USM 16-7 over the next six minutes.

After Knight's layup, Lindo hit a jumper off of a Preston assist and Preston trained a three for a quick five-point swing and a 47-39 lead.  A three-point play from Knight returned the score to a five-point game, but the Warriors ran off an 11-3 spurt capped by a three from Preston and a one-handed dunk from Lindo off of a feed from Preston.  Lindo's dunk gave the Warriors their largest lead of the game, 58-46, with 7:23 on the clock.

The Huskies pulled back to within seven points four times in the final minutes of the game, but each time they were met by timely baskets from the Warriors.

Eastern Connecticut shot 50.0 percent (27-for-54) from the field for the game and was 43.8 percent (7-for-16) from the three-point line.  Southern Maine shot 38.7 percent (24-for-62) from the field.

–cac–