The win is the first in the conference for Eastern (5-9, 1-5 little east) and the loss is the first in the conference for Keene State (11-4, 5-1 little east), which had beaten the Warriors the last nine times the clubs had met. The Warriors also snapped a four –game overall losing streak with their first home victory since upsetting Trinity College, 66-64 Nov. 22.
Playing without two starting guards, Eastern controlled the tempo and the lead throughout, but needed four straight free throws from sophomore guard Daniel DeJesus (HARTFORD) over the final 16 seconds to hold off the Owls. Eastern led by 16, 43-27, at halftime and by 20, 57-37, eight minutes into the second half before Keene scrapped babck to within five, 73-68, with 1:27 left. Junior guard Matt Albon (MIDDLEBURY) hit the first of a two-shot free throw to give Eastern a 77-70 lead with 29 seconds left. After he missed the second, junior post player Dan Trudeau (ROCKVILLE) grabbed the rebound and put it back in to push the lead to nine, 79-70.
Martin sank eight of 12 field goals en route to his game-high scoring total and also added three blocked shots and three assists. Albon had 13 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Kris Johnson (STURBRIDGE, MA) scored all 11 of his points in the first half, hitting three three-pointers. In his second career start, first-year sophomore guard Greg Lasota (NEWINGTON) handed out a career-high ten assists. Lasota played the entire second half with four personal fouls before finally fouling out with 17.6 seconds left, at which time DeJesus came in to sink his four crucial free throws.
Sophomore guard David Sontag (Mont Vernon, NH) was the only Keene player in double figures, finishing with 15 points. Nine of his points came from the foul line. Keene, which leads the conference in scoring (90.4 ppg.) and three-pointers (10.2 per game), missed 20 of 24 three-pointers. Eastern, which shoots free throws at a 65.6 percentage this year, sank 21 of 29 from the stripe (72.4).
Eastern junior guard Geoffrey Richardson (HARTFORD) had seven points, five assists and three rebounds in 36 minutes but contributed primarily on defense, where he held Sontag in check throughout most of the game. Sontag is the conference’s fifth-leading scorer (17.9 ppg.) and ranks 12th in field goal percentage, third in three-point percentage (47.4) and first in assists (4.9). Sontag had only six points at halftime and finished 2-for-8 from the floor, 2-for-5 from three-point range and handed out three assists.
Eastern visits SUNY Old Westbury Thursday at 7:30 p.m.