HARTFORD, Conn. – The Endicott men's basketball rebounded from a day one loss at the Trinity Holiday Invitational to end the 2014 portion of their schedule with a convincing 96-67 victory over MCLA in the tournament's consolation game. The Gulls will head into 2015 and a marquee matchup with NESCAC rival Williams with a 6-3 overall record.
Endicott (6-3) and Williams (8-3) will tip-off on Saturday, January 3rd at 3:00 pm inside MacDonald Gymnasium. These two teams have met just twice in their history with the Ephs winning both games in 1998 and 2002.
After struggling in their loss to Berkeley on Tuesday night, the Gulls responded less than 24 hours later with an impressive team performance that included 51% (32-of-63) shooting from the field, 50% (12-of-24) from three-point range, and 74% (20-of-27) at the free throw line. Defensively, Endicott returned to their season averages by limiting MCLA to just 40% shooting overall and 33% (5-of-15) from beyond the arc. The Blue and Green helped to create 20 Trailblazer turnovers resulting in 28 points down the other end.
Sophomore guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) stuffed the stat sheet in Endicott's landslide win, scoring a team-high 21 points on 6-of-10 from the floor including a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point distance as well as 5-of-6 at the line. Walker added five boards and a game-high five assists. Fellow sophomore Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) matched Walker with five assists to go along with nine points, five rebounds, a steal, and a block.
Endicott's offensive outburst to end 2014 also came from senior captain and forward Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) who inched closer to surpassing the 1,000-point plateau for his collegiate playing career by netting 17 points against MCLA. Makris now stands at 981 career points. He added three boards, three steals, two blocks, and two assists in Wednesday's win.
Sophomore guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) did not miss a shot en route to scoring 13 points via 4-of-4 from the field, 2-of-2 from three-point range, and 3-of-3 at the free throw line. Motroni also distributed well with four assists.
Off the bench, sophomore guard Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) led a group of Endicott reserves that scored 27 points with nine points in 15 game minutes. Sophomore Stephen Basden (Lynn, Mass.) added six points with two assists and senior big man Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) made his presence felt in 16 minutes on the court with four points, five rebounds, a block, an assist, and a steal.
MCLA got a game-high 24 points from sophomore forward Adam Conquest (Gardner, Mass.) who knocked down an efficient 10-of-15 shots including two three pointers. Conquest hauled in eight rebounds, three on the offensive glass, as the Trailblazers held a slim 41-37 rebounding advantage.
