GORHAM, Maine - Senior
Thomas Whelan (Bronx, NY/Fordham Prep) led four players in double figures with 23 points as the University of Southern Maine Huskies fought off the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors for an 81-70 win in Little East Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Hill Gymnasium.
Whelan's game-high 23 points paced the Huskies as the senior guard added five rebounds and two steals. Freshman
Carter Galley (Owls Head, Maine/Oceanside) scored 20 critical points off of the bench on 7-for-10 shooting, while graduate student
Andrew Hartel (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Kimball Union) had 11 points and freshman
Gabe Lash (Waldoboro, Maine/Medomak Valley) added 10 points and six rebounds. Sophomore
Evans Sterling (New Sharon, Maine/Mt. Blue) had nine points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Ray Carter led the Warriors with 22 points on 8-for-19 shooting, while Jalen Hamblin added 12 points and six boards. Drew Soltis had six points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Dominick Dao added eight points, five assists and two steals.
The Records:
Eastern Connecticut (11-5, 3-4 Little East)
Southern Maine (10-6, 5-2 Little East )
Today's marks the 92nd meeting between the University of Southern Maine and the Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors. ECSU leads the overall series 56-36; however, Southern Maine swept the Warriors in the 2023-2024 season, and in the 2024-2025 to win four straight over ECSU. The Huskies are 6-1 against the Warriors in their last sevenb meetings.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Trailing 19-17 (9:38) after a layup from USM freshman Cohen Galley (Owls Head, Maine/Oceanside), the Warriors used a 15-4 run over the next two and a half minutes to surge past Southern Maine, 32-23, with 6:54 left in the first half.
- Both teams went back and forth, and the Warriors led by nine, 37-28, on two free throws from Hamblin with 4:14 to play before the Huskies used a 10-5 spurt to close out the half to trail Eastern Connecticut 42-38 at the break. Whelan had five of the Huskies' final 10 points of the half, while Carter Galley hit a three with 34 seconds left in the frame.
- The Warriors and Huskies exchanged baskets to open the second half, and ECSU's Julian Sanchez hit a jumper after an offensive board to put his team up 50-47 with 13:54 to play before Carter Galley hit back-to-back jumpers in the paint for a 51-50 Husky lead.
- After Galley's two buckets both the Warriors and Huskies exchanged leads and buckets over the next several possessions. ECSU's Carter had the Warriors up three, 63-60, with 8:03 to go, before the Huskies created some separation with an 8-0 run led by Galley and Sterling. Galley hit two free throws at the 7:51 mark to start the rally, while Sterling converted a pair of tough layups for a 66-63 Husky lead before Galley closed the run with a layup of his own for a 68-63 lead. Galley's layup at the 5:27 mark put USM up for good.
- An and-one play from Hartel at the 3:49 mark gave USM a five-point cushion, 71-66, but the Warriors did not quit and rallied to make it a one-point game on a jumper from Hamblin and two free throws from Doa at the 3:01 mark. With its lead chopped to one, Southern Maine used four straight points from Galley on a layup and two free throws for a 75-70 advantage with just over a minute to play. From there, USM closed out the game as Whelan hit a jumper, and USM went 4-for-4 from the free throw line for the 81-70 final.
Inside The Statistics:
- Southern Maine shot 46.4 percent (26-for-56) from the field, and 33.3 percent (4-for-12) from three. The Huskies went 25-for-30 from the free throw line, led by a 9-for-10 effort from Whelan, and a 6-for-6 mark from Lash.
- USM had a 39-36 lead in rebounding led by Sterling's eight and six each from sophomore Noah Dowling (North Narabeen, Australia) and Lash. Soltis helped ECSU to a 11-8 lead in offensive boards, snagging three offensive boards from his game-high 10.
- Southern Maine outscored the Warriors 28-12 in the paint.
Up Next:
The Huskies are on the road for their next two contests at Plymouth State on Wednesday, January 21 (7:00 pm) and Saturday, January 24 (3:00 pm at WestConn. Southern Maine returns home on Wednesday, January 28 (7:00 pm).
-cac-