DANBURY, Conn. – A combined 26 turnovers for men's basketball, 12 of which were in the second half, proved to the be the deciding factor as the Colonials of Western Connecticut State University defeated the Beacons by the final of 82-70 Saturday afternoon in a Little East Conference showdown at the Feldman Arena.

The Colonial successfully converted the Beacons 26 turnovers into a combined 38 points to help secure the conference win.  Western now stands at 11-4, 3-2 in the conference, which puts them in a tie for fourth place in the conference.  The Beacons fell to 9-6 overall, 1-4 in the conference, following Saturday's loss.

Senior Carl Joseph (Brockton, Mass.) led the Beacons with a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds.  The forward tried to carry his team to a late second half rally, but the late push was not enough for the Beacons. 

After a back-and-forth exchange for most of the contest, the Colonials used a quick 8-0 run to take an 11-point lead (65-54) with 5:38 left in the second.  Joseph, would cut the Colonials lead to single-digits after making back-to-back free throws.

Western made it a 10-point affair on their next possession, as Kendall Marquez went 1-for-2 at the line.  A Beacon turnover, would then result in a Marquez 3-pointer and-1 to push their lead to 70-56 with 4:58 remaining. 

Joseph's next basket would make it a 12-point deficit, but Western quickly responded with another field goal of their own to make it 72-58.  The two teams would continue to exchange baskets over the next minute.  Gregory Young (Dorchester, Mass.) got in on the late push, as he would combine for seven points, with his last field goal cutting the Colonials lead to nine with just under two minutes to play.

UMass tried to make it a two-possession game following a Colonials turnover, but were unable to convert on the 3-pointer attempt.  Jeremiah Washington then missed a pair of free throws to keep it at a nine-point affair, but another Beacons turnover, quickly turned into a lay-up for Washington to push WCSU's lead back to double-digits. 

Washington would account for the final three points for Western, while Kevin Louis-Jean (Hyde Park, Mass.) capped off a career-day for the sophomore scoring the Beacons final field goal of the afternoon.  Louis-Jean finished day with 12 points, eight of which came in the first half. Joseph closed out the opening half with 13 points as the Beacons trailed by just three (37-34) going into the break.

Young closed out Saturday's loss with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.  Joseph finished shooting 8-for-18 from the floor, and 3-for-6 from behind the arc.  The Brockton native was also 6-for-9 at the line.

Marquez matched the game-high 25 points, as the guard finished 8-for-22, 6-for-12 from 3-point range.  Off the bench Luis Birdtter and Washington combined for 30 of the team's 33 bench points respectively.  Philkwan Tate grabbed a team-best eight boards, along with Bridtter. 

The Beacons return to action on Tuesday when they travel to UMass Dartmouth for a 7:30 p.m. conference game.