The Colonials advanced to and will host the tournament’s semifinals on Friday, February 25. Although the opponent was not determined at the time of this release, WestConn knows it will play the 8 p.m. game. It will play either Keene State or UMass Dartmouth which tipped off late on Tuesday night. The winner of the Plymouth State versus UMass Boston game will face the winner of the Rhode Island College versus Southern Maine game at 6 p.m. The LEC Championship game is slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26 at Western Connecticut.
Tuesday night’s game at the O’Neill Center was a tale of two halves for the home team as Western shot just 42 percent (16 of 38) from the floor in the first half then came out and buried 20 of 30 attempts (71%) from the field over the final 20 minutes.
Greg Cole (Terrytown, NY) was held to six points in the first stanza then caught fire and finished with a game-high 19 points for the 21-4 Colonials.
Four players from WestConn finished in double figures with Brice Assie (Bridgeport, CT) contributing 16 points and six rebounds. Leg cramps hampered the 6-6 center in the second half. In fact, following a dunk by Assie with 7:29 remaining, he left the game for good after being helped off the court.
The Colonials led 75-51 following Assie’s last basket, but his departure allowed the Warriors to stage one last comeback bid.
Eastern Connecticut, 8-16, seized the opportunity of Assie’s absence and went on a 12-5 run over the next four minutes to cut its deficit to 17 points. The Warriors got within 13 points with 36 seconds remaining on a three pointer by Mike Bartunek (Durham, CT). He finished with a team-high 16 points.
Jeroy Smith (New Haven, CT) added 13 points and Leon Martin (Woodbury, CT) chipped in 10 points for Eastern.
Jay Reginatto (Torrington, CT) and Kimani Crawford (West Hartford, CT) each had 15 points for the Colonials. Reginatto missed eight of 14 shots from the field for WestConn.