For more information contact Christina Cracolici
Director of Athletic Communications
Saturday, December 9, 2023
 
 
 
For Immediate Release
Men's College Basketball
Southern Maine Rolls Eastern Connecticut 81-59
GORHAM, Maine  –  Freshman Brady Saunders (Brewer, Maine) scored a career and game-best 23 points to lead three players in double-figures as the University of Southern Maine Huskies downed the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors 81-59 in a Little East Conference men's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Hill Gymnasium.
 
Saunders was an outstanding 9-for-12 from the field for his game-high total, adding four rebounds. Senior Chance Dixon (Lake Worth, Fla./Santaluces) added 15 points for the Huskies, while sophomore Tommy Whelan (Bronx, N.Y./Fordham Prep) continued to fill the stat sheet with 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Nine different players had at least two points for USM in the victory.
 
Dominick Dao led ECSU with 13 points on 6-for-14 shooting, adding five rebounds, three assists and a steal.  Jeremiah Graham had nine points, four rebounds and three assists, while Ty Calloway came off the bench for nine points.
 
The Records:
Eastern Connecticut State University (1-9, 0-3 Little East)
Southern Maine (5-4, 1-2 Little East)
 
Today's game marked the 88^th meeting between the University of Southern Maine Huskies and the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors.  ECSU leads the overall series 56-32. Southern Maine split the 2022-2023 series winning at home 87-78, and falling on the road 70-56.  
 
How It Happened:

• The Huskies led wire-to-wire in the contest and scored the first six points of the game on back-to-back buckets from Whelan and a layup from Dixon. The Warriors Esco Greene scored on back-to-back jumpers to make it 6-4, but the Huskies rattled off an 8-0 run to lead by 10, 14-4, early in the game.
• Comfortably ahead 24-12 with 10:31 on the clock, Southern Maine went 4-for-4 over the next three and half minutes, including threes from freshman Justin Allen (Franklin, Mass.) and Dixon to surge 34-12 advantage with 7:06 on the clock. 
• Two free throws from Julian Sanchez stopped the Husky run, but USM went into the halftime break up 47-30. The Huskies shot 65.5 percent (19-for-29) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes led by 12 points from Saunders and 10 from Dixon. Conversely, ECSU was 11-for-35 (31.4 percent).
• The Huskies remained comfortably in front in the second half and led by 23, 67-44, with 9:35 remaining after a layup from freshman Montrell Bell (Orlando, Fla./Bishop Moore Catholic). The Warriors cut the deficit to 20 twice in the next few minutes, but a three-point play from Whelan gave USM its largest lead of the second half, 78-53, with 5::36 to go and USM rolled to the 81-59 final.

 
Inside The Stats:

• The Huskies shot 62.3 percent (33-for-53) from the field and 42.1 percent (8-for-19) from three in the win.  ECSU shot just 34.4 percent (22-for-64) from the field and went 2-for-16 from three.
• ECSU won the turnover battle. The Huskies turned the ball over 17 times to the Warriors eight. However, USM had a 14-13 lead in points off of turnovers.
• The Huskies dominated the paint outscoring ECSU 42-26.
• Dixon's 15 points puts him at 872 for his career.  He is 28 points away from 100.  With two threes in today's game, he has 164 in his career. He is presently fourth all-time. The program record is 230 set by Joe Cawley (1988-1992).

 
Up Next:
Southern Maine returns to action on the road on Saturday, December 16 (1:00 pm) at Albertus Magnus.  The Huskies are then off for the semester break, and will host Nichols College on December 29 (3:00 pm) in their return to action at home.
-cac-