News Release

DANBURY, CT — The Western Connecticut men’s basketball team held on to defeat UMass Dartmouth, 94-89 in the semifinals of the Little East Conference Tournament at the O’Neill Center on Friday night.
The Colonials, 22-4, will meet Plymouth State University which defeated Rhode Island College, 72-69 earlier in the night. Tip off for the championship will be 3 p.m. at the O’Neill Center.
After taking a 44-42 lead into the locker room at intermission, the Colonials and Corsairs swapped leads nine times before the hometowners pulled ahead by seven points, 66-59 on a lay up by Brice Assie (Bridgeport, CT) with 10:32 remaining.
Assie finished with a game-high 32 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.
Western’s lead grew to nine points three minutes later when Jason Barnett (Windsor, CT) hit a jumper in the lane for a 75-66 advantage.
The Corsairs, which finish the season at 13-14, tied the game for the sixth time with 1:15 remaining, 87-all on a free throw from Paul Pawlowski (Taunton, MA).
WestConn went on to score seven of the game’s final nine points the rest of the way.
Four other Colonials scored in double figures with Jay Reginatto (Torrington, CT) adding 16 points.
Kimani Crawford (West Hartford, CT) added 13 points while Jeff Gene (Bridgeport, CT) and Kyle Norfleet (Waterbury, CT) pitched in 11 and 10, respectively.
UMass Dartmouth was led by Joe Britto (New Bedford, MA) who had 28 points on 11 of 20 shooting from the floor.
Pawlowski added 17 points for the Corsairs.