Against Eastern, Wesleyan posts second straight 66-65 triumph
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- The good news for the Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball team Wednesday was that senior guard Nick Nedwick (Irvington, NY) returned to the lineup after missing the first two games of his career with an ankle injury.
At right: Chris Robitaille puts up a shot in the first half of Wednesday's 66-65 loss. (Photo from the Smith archive collection)
The bad news for the Warriors was that Nedwick's 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists weren't quite enough to help Eastern (16-4) avoid its third loss in five games.
Against Wesleyan (16-5) in the final non-conference game of the year, Eastern failed on two opportunities inside the final 30 seconds to score the go-ahead basket and eventually dropped a 66-65 decision at the Freeman Athletic Center.
Wesleyan secured its fourth win in its last five outings when Glen Thomas sank a pair of free throws for the final points of the game with 32 seconds left. Thomas was fouled after grabbing an offensive rebound. The free throws were the only ones made by Thomas in five tries in the game.
On their next possession, the Warriors had a field goal attempt blocked, but the Cardinals reciprocated by missing the front end of a one-and-one with 13 seconds left that gave the ball back to the visitors. Inbounding at halfcourt after a timeout with six seconds left, Eastern's bid at a game-winning three-point field goal bounded off the iron as time expired.
The one-point decision was the first of the season for Eastern, ranked among the national leaders with a +15 point differential this season. Until Wednesday, Eastern had played only two games - both in the Little East Conference -- decided by single figures (both at home), edging the University of Southern Maine by five in December and losing by eight last Tuesday to Keene State.
There were eight ties and 13 lead changes in the game. The Cardinals, who led most of the way and for a span of more than 20 minutes, found themselves trailing for the first time in the second half with 3:06 to play as the Warriors grabbed a 61-60 lead on an inside basket by junior Chris Robitaille (Canton). Wesleyan had overcome a 24-20 deficit with a 14-2 run near the end of the first half to take a 34-26 lead, equalling the largest margin in the contest. The halftime score was 34-29 in Wesleyan's favor.
The Cardinals again opened up an eight point lead, 41-33, with 15:53 to go and held the lead until the 3:06 mark though Eastern had cut the gap to 51-50 on a three-pointer by senior guard Chae Philips (West Haven) with 7:30 on the clock. Wesleyan then scored on four of its next five possession, the final three all on baskets by junior Mike Callaghan, who led the Cardinals with 20 points, for a 60-56 edge. At the same time, Nedwick, who led all scorers in the game, was collecting seven straight Warriors points to make it 60-59 before a Cardinal miss and Robitaille's layup ended Wesleyan's 21:36 stretch with the lead.
Callaghan then buried a pair of free throws at 2:39 to regain the lead for Wesleyan, 62-61. A pair of Nedwick charity-stripers at 2:10 gave the lead back to the Warriors, 63-62. Each team missed a scoring chance before Callaghan hit a jumper at :56.8 for a 64-63 Wesleyan advantage. Again Eastern countered at :46.3 when Robitaille upped his point total to nine with Eastern's last basket and a 65-64 margin.
Eastern turned the ball over only 12 times but Wesleyan capitalized virtually every time, outscoring the Warriors 21-8 after turnovers.
Senior forward Jamie Kohn (Columbia) was the top rebounder in the game, grabbing nine - including the 800th of his career - to go along with nine points while also dishing out a game-best five assists. Robitaille matched Nedwick with eight rebounds. Phlips scored nine points on three three-point field goals (on four tries) and Robitaille added nine points and eight rebounds.
Wesleyan now has a 14-10 edge in the overall series vs. Eastern and won its second straight game by the identical 66-65 count with last year's win coming in Willimantic.
Eastern hosts Plymouth State University Saturday at 3 p.m. in the first of five conference games which close out the regular season.
Wesleyan University Sports Information contributed to this report
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