Johnson was a remarkable 8-for-12 from beyond-the-arc to lead the Warriors to their first win in four games. Eastern Connecticut improves to 6-12 overall and 2-7 in the Little East. The Huskies, suffering their fifth straight loss, drop to 9-10 overall and 3-6 in the conference.
Ahead by just a point, 28-27, at the half, Eastern Connecticut earned itself some breathing room with an 8-0 run in the opening three minutes of the second half. Sophomore guard Matt Albon (Middlebury, Conn./Holy Cross) and sophomore center Kevin Zalucki (Enfield, Conn./East Catholic) keyed the run with back-to-back lay-ups. Junior guard Geoff Richardson (Hartford, Conn./Northwest Catholic) closed the 8-0 spurt with a pair of hard earned baskets in the paint to give the Warriors a 36-28 lead with 16:25 to play.
USM cut the lead to three points, 39-36, over the next two minutes outscoring the Warriors 8-3, but Eastern Connecticut answered right back as Johnson struck for four straight three-pointers to give the Warriors a 10-point lead, 51-41 with 9:54 to play.
After Johnson’s sixth three-pointer of the half gave the Warriors its largest lead of the game, 58-47, the Huskies again cut their deficit to just three points on the heels of a 9-2 run, with 3:30 to play. But the Warriors were just too tough down the stretch making nine of their 10 free throws to seal the win.
Johnson led all scorers with his career-high 25 points off of the bench as one of two players in double-figures for the Warriors. Joining Johnson in the double-digits was Richardson who connected on 6-of-13 shots from the field en route to 14 points. Albon and sophomore guard Saliym Wilson (Manhattan, N.Y./Hyde School (ME)) each added eight points for ECSU.
Senior forward Bill Hardwick (Boothbay, Maine/Boothbay Region) led the Huskies with 19 points and six rebounds, while senior Jesse McKinnell (Manoment, Mass./Scituate) posted his second consecutive double-double with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Walter Phillips (Portland, Maine/Bridgton Academy) added seven points and seven assists for the Huskies while freshman guard Charlie O’Neill (Seymour, Conn./Wilbraham & Monson) chipped in with seven points on a 3-for-3 effort from the field.
Both teams were even offensively as the Huskies and Eastern Connecticut each shot 44.9 percent from the field on 22-for-49 shooting from the floor. However, Eastern Connecticut was 10-for-22 from three-point range on the back of Johnson’s outstanding performance compared to just a 2-for-14 effort from the Huskies.
Southern Maine returns to action Wednesday (Feb. 1) at St. Joseph’s (Maine) College for a non-conference game. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. Eastern Connecticut plays again on Thursday (Feb. 2) when it hosts Worcester State College in a non-conference match-up at 7:30 p.m.