WILLIMANTIC, CONN. 2/23/10 - The third-seeded Warriors of Eastern Conn. State University outscored sixth seed Keene State College 61-37 in the second half on the way to posting a 99-75 victory over the Owls in a quarterfinal Little East Conference tournament game played at Geissler Gymnasium on Tuesday night. 

Keene State concludes its season at 13-13.  A winner of five of six, Eastern (18-8) faces No. 2 seed Western Connecticut State University (18-6) Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the second of two semifinal games at Rhode Island College. Top-seeded host Rhode Island (18-7) faces No. 4 Massachusetts Dartmouth (18-8) in the first semifinal game. Rhode Island and Western drew first-round byes while host UMass Dartmouth erased an early deficit to eliminate No. 5 Plymouth State University, 77-67.

Sophomore forward Hamilton Levy (Woodbury, Conn.) and freshman guard Mike Garrow (Terryville, Conn.) came off the bench to spark a 61-point second half as Eastern Connecticut won a LEC tournament game for the first time in ten years. 

Eastern frittered away a nine-point first-half lead but jumped from a halftime tie (38-38) by getting points from five different players in an early 10-2 lead that shot the Warriors into an eight-point, 48-40 lead less than four minutes into the frame. With Eastern leading by nine seven minutes into the second half, Levy and Garrow combined for the game's next ten points to boost the lead to 19, 69-50 with ten minutes left. The lead never dipped below 17 the rest of the way.

In that 10-0 run, Levy had six points (4-of-5 from the foul line) and Garrow added four points on a jumper and inside bucket. The Warriors shot 60.6 percent from the floor in the second half in totaling 61 points. The second-half and game scoring totals represented season-high for Eastern.

In 33 minutes off the bench, Levy and Garrow combined for 26 points (8-of-14 from the floor, 8-of-9 from the foul line) and eight rebounds with only one turnover between them. Sophomore guard Nick Nedwick (Irvington, NY) led five double-figure scorers with a team-high 18 points and five steals, with junior post player Broderick Sawyer (Norwalk) adding 15, Levy a season-high 14 points (one shy of his career best) and four steals, sophomore guard Jamie Kohn (Columbia, Conn.) 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds (one more than his conference-leading average) and Garrow 12 points.

Conference scoring leader Derek D'Amours (Agawam, MA) of Keene State led all players with 20 points, four shy of his season average. D'Amours scored four of his eight first-half points from the foul line. The sophomore forward managed only two points through the game's first 14 minutes. Sophomore guard Cody Snow (Leyden, MA) scored 13 of his game total of 15 points in the first half. Freshman forward Nicco DeMasco (Richmond, NH) had the only double-double of the game with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

In 2000, Eastern also defeated Keene State three times in a season, sweeping the regular-season series, and then hitting a buzzer-beater for an 80-79 conference tournament win at Geissler Gym on the way to its most recent conference tournament title. That was the last conference tournament win for Eastern until Tuesday.

(Courtesy ECSU Sports Information)