Box Score - Becker
Box Score - Eastern Connecticut
Willimantic, CT (Nov. 15-16, 2013) – Eastern Connecticut is becoming a home away from home for the Purchase College men's basketball team.
The Panthers, for the second time in four years, won the 33rd Annual Eastern Connecticut State University men's basketball tournament Saturday, topping the hosts, 68-62.
Purchase got 22 points from Andre Nixon (SR/Harlem, NY), 21 from newcomer Franklyn Mickens (FR/Glen Gove, NY) and another 12 off the bench from Troy Singleton (JR/Queens, NY), overcoming the loss of 7-foot-2 center Joel Neri (JR/Port Chester, NY), who was unavailable for the first two games of the season.
David Haughton (SR/Greenburgh, NY) added a team-high nine rebounds, as Purchase improved to 2-0. The Panthers shot 45 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, while limiting Eastern Connecticut to 38.6 percent from the field for the game.
All-Tournament picks Nixon and Mickens combined for 43 of their team's points as Purchase won the tip-off tourney for the second time in four years, defeating the host Warriors in the final again at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
Eastern (1-1) scored the first seven points of the second half and outscored Purchase, 13-7, over the first five minutes of the stanza to take its last lead, 42-41, before the Panthers countered with a run of 11 straight points to pull away to an 11-point, 52-42 lead with 11:31 left in the game.
Eastern's Mike Garrow fueled the team's early second-half spurt with eight points after being shut down with two points in the first half, and Singleton and Nixon sparked Purchase's decisive run by coming for eight points.
Nixon was named the tournament Most Outstanding Player with 53 points in two games on 20 of 34 shooting and 11 rebounds. He had 22 points and seven rebounds in the final. Mickens totaled 21 of his tournament's 24 points in the final.
Garrow had 37 points 15 rebounds and 11 assists in the tournament, 25 points coming in the opening win over Worcester State. Brian Salzillo joined Garrow on the all-tournament team from Eastern. Salzillo amassed 55 points with 13 3-pointers (on 26 attempts).
The Panthers, who also won the tourney in 2010, reached the title game behind an impressive 58-45 final on Friday night in their first game of the season.
Purchase upended Becker College, who shot just 24 percent from the floor and scored only 17 points in the first half thanks to the ferocious Panther defense.
Entering Saturday's title game, Purchase had won four of five games in three years in the Eastern Connecticut tournament. The Panthers capped their run Saturday by winning five of six games over that stretch.
Despite having returned only four letterwinners from last year's NCAA tournament qualifier, Purchase never trailed Friday. The Panthers scored eight consecutive points to assume an early 12-4 lead, and after the Hawks whittled the lead to two, Purchase held Becker scoreless from the floor over the final seven minutes, using a 9-1 run to post a 10-point, 27-17 halftime lead.
Nixon, the team's top returning scorer, tossed in 15 of his team's first-half points and finished with a game-high 31. He was 11 of 16 from the floor, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range, over 40 minutes.
Becker shot 52 percent from the floor following its dismal first-half showing, and was able to cut a 17-point deficit to eight late in the game, but like the first half, went scoreless from the floor over the final four minutes.
Nixon's long distance field goal with 2:45 left put the Panthers' lead at 11, 56-45.
Forward Scott Dulaire was Becker's only double-figure scorer, finishing with 10, while Panther swingman Justin Person (JR/Greenburgh, NY) followed Nixon with 12 points for Purchase.
-Eastern Connecticut State Sports Information Contributed to this report
