DANBURY, Conn. -- Senior Marvin Evans (Stratford, Conn.) connected on 12-of-18 shots from the floor on the way to scoring a game-high 26 as the Western Connecticut State University Colonials defeated the University of Southern Maine Huskies 100-82 in a Little East Conference game Saturday afternoon at Feldman Arena.
The win improved the Colonials’ overall record to 10-8 and 5-4 in the Little East, and gave them a sweep of the two-game season series. Southern Maine dropped its fifth straight game to fall to 6-13 overall and 1-8 in the conference.
Leading by four (36-32) with 3:34 to go in the first half, the Colonials went on a 16-3 run, including the final nine points, to close out the half and take a commanding 52-35 at the break. Evans had four points in the run, while sophomore Greg Cole (Queens, N.Y.) buried a couple of three-point shots.
The onslaught continued in the opening minutes of the second half as the Colonials went on a 18-5 run to increase the margin to 30 (70-40) with 15 minutes to play.
Southern Maine whittled away at the huge deficit and got within 11 (91-80) when sophomore Quinn Fulcher (South Royalton, Vt.) made a pair of free throws with 2:31 to play, but the Colonials closed the game with a 9-2 run to account for the final margin.
Evans paced five Colonials in double figures with his 26 points. Junior Brice Assie (Bridgeport, Conn.) hit 9-of-14 shots to finish with 21 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Junior Jeff Gene (Bridgeport, Conn.) added 15 while junior Kimani Crawford (West Hartford, Conn.) contributed 13 and Cole came off the bench to toss in 10.
Leading Southern Maine was junior Jason Levecque (Westbrook, Maine) who had 22 points. Sophomore Jesse McKinnell (Manomet, Mass.) posted his fourth straight double-double with 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Junior Ryan Garland (Hermon, Maine) had 10 points.
Southern Maine shot 48.7 percent (37 of 76) from the floor while Western Connecticut connected on 52.2 percent (36 of 69) of its shots. The Colonials had a wide margin at the foul line, making 23 of 35 charity tosses while the Huskies made just six of ten free throws.
The Huskies will look to break their losing streak on Wednesday when they travel to Standish, Maine, to take on St. Joseph’s College. Western Connecticut will take on Lasell College on Tuesday.