Last Saturday’s Little East Conference matchup proved to be the best home game of the year for the Plymouth State Men’s basketball team, as they pulled out a huge win against #22 Eastern Connecticut. Sophomore sensation Jack Preston (Nashua, N.H.) had a career-high 25 points and connected on 11-15 shots. Classmate guard Ernie Johnson (Springfield, Mass.) chipped in 17 points, and junior forward Uche Nwokeji (Lynn, Mass.) led the team in rebounds.
ECSU hasn’t lost a conference game in over a year, and with an overall record of 16-4, this game wasn’t going to be easy. “At the beginning of the year, we did a great job moving the ball around and guys were scoring off of assists,” said Coach Andrew Novick before the game. “We need to do a better job finding the open players and feeding them the ball.” He went on to say that they needed to control the boards and have the ability to play all 40 minutes. “[Keene State] had it all over us rebounding, and we had trouble getting back in transition in the first half.”
The team that took the floor last Saturday looked a lot different than the one we’ve seen all year.
Plymouth State dominated all categories statistically from the first tip to final whistle, including a one rebound advantage over ECSU, 28 points inside the paint, and an overall shooting percentage of nearly 50%. Preston started the scoring (which, lately, has become a regular occurrence) but the Warriors responded with a 10-3 run. Both teams traded baskets for the majority of the middle 10 minutes before an Ernie Johnson jumper and a pair of Preston layups tied the game up. Eastern Connecticut regained the lead at the five minute mark in the first half before the Panthers went on an 11-3 run. PSU went into halftime with a 30-24 lead, despite a three-quarter court shot by Curtis Arsenault (Berlin, N.H.) that clanged off both sides of the rim and rattled out.
Despite a couple of late pushes by the Warriors, Plymouth never let go of the lead in the second half. Leading by 11 after the first five minutes, ECSU made numerous pushes, cutting the lead down to a bucket at points. Sophomore Warrior guard Kevin Leumene (who finished with 13 points) had ice in his veins, making 7-8 from the free throw line, and made three-of-four in the final two minutes of the game and did his best to keep the game as close as it was. He hit a pair at 2:24 but couldn’t connect on the last free throw attempt at 1:08. Johnson’s rebound set up for his pair of free throws that iced the game and gave Plymouth its second conference win of the year.
Eastern Connecticut had won its first eight conference games of the year with an 18 point margin average.