Eastern (8-15, 4-10 little east) finishes in a tie for seventh place in the final conference standings with the University of Southern Maine but will be seeded eighth in the conference tournament based on tie-breakers and will visit top seed Western Connecticut State University (10-4, 20-4 little east) in a first-round game Tuesday. Western and Rhode Island College (17-7, 10-4 little east) share the conference regular-season title.
UMass, which was swept by Eastern in the regular-season home-and-home series, finishes in sixth place. The Beacons will visit No. 3 seed Plymouth State (17-8, 9-5 little east) University Tuesday in a first-round game.
Leading by two points, 45-43 three minutes into the second half, Eastern outscored UMass (8-17, 5-9 little east) 15-3 over the next four minutes to take command, 60-46. The Warriors led by 11 points with three minutes left before the Beacons pulled to within six in the closing seconds.
Bartunek, who has at least one three-pointer in nine straight games (averaging over three made per game in that stretch) and in 15 of his last 16, connected on three of his game total of four during the 15-3 run. Bartunek sandwiched consecutive three-pointers around a UMass Boston miss to close out the scoring burst.
Bartunek scored 11 of his 14 points on 4-for-8 shooting in the second half, helping the Warriors shoot 61.5 per cent in pulling away over the final 20 minutes. Senior forward Jeroy Smith (NEW HAVEN), also playing the final regular-season home game of his career, hit all three of his second-half shots and pulled down seven rebounds while freshman guard Shiwon Davis (STRATFORD) and sophomore guard Tyrone Murphy (NEW LONDON) were both 3-for-4 in the second half.
Smith finished with a team-high 17 points (6-for-7 from the floor) and equaled his season-high rebound total with a game-high 12. Davis was 7-for-11 from the floor and finished with 15 points – his third-highest total of the year. He also recorded his second-highest rebounding mark of the year by grabbing seven.
Sophomore guard Matt Albon (MIDDLEBURY) contributed 12 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Warriors.
UMass freshman forward Alberto Paniagua (Dorchester, MA) tossed in 16 of his game-high 24 points over the final 20 minutes, scoring nearly half of his team’s second-half total. He was 7-for-9 from the floor in the second half. Senior guards Roger Perry (Roxbury, MA) and Eric Summerville (Little Rock, AR) each added ten points for the Beacons. Perry was 4-for-4 from the floor and finished with five assists and three rebounds.
Western swept the regular-season series this year for the first time in four years, winning 84-70 at Danbury and 80-76 at Geissler Gym. The teams have split two first-round conference tournament games, both at Danbury. Western won 93-71 in 1995 and Eastern 85-81 in 1997.