Endicott Men's Basketball 1,000-Point Scorers
Andre Makris Career Statistics
BEVERLY, Mass. – Senior forward Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) joined an elite club of Endicott men's basketball players on Thursday evening, surpassing the 1,000-point plateau for his collegiate career as his 12-point effort helped the Endicott men's basketball team defeat Roger Williams 76-58 in CCC action. Makris became the 12th player in program history to eclipse the historic milestone on the first of two free throws makes with 48 seconds remaining in the second half to put the game away.
Endicott (8-4, 4-1 CCC), after dropping their first conference game back on December 3rd, have won four straight CCC games and six of their last eight games overall. The Gulls will look to make it a 3-0 week over conference opponents when they take on Curry (2-10, 0-5 CCC) on Saturday, January 10th at 1:00 pm. The Colonels will be coming off a 58-49 loss at the hands of Gordon on Thursday.
With five points at halftime and Endicott leading Roger Williams 39-28, Makris quickly scored another five points over the opening 2:01 of the second half to pull within one of 1,000 for his career. During that span, the Gulls turned an 11-point halftime lead into an 18-point advantage after a Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) layup made it 51-33 just 2:21 into the second period. Sampson, who recorded his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, also threw down a dunk during Endicott's 12-4 run.
The Gulls maintained their double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game with the lead reaching its peak with 14:07 on the clock following a Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) jumper which made it 56-36. Endicott leaned on sophomore guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) in the second half as Walker scored 10 of his game-high 15 points over the final 20 minutes. Walker made 3-of-6 shots including a three and all three free throws. In total, he added seven rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal to his 15 points.
Besides Walker (15 points), Makris (12 points), and Sampson (11 points), two other Gulls reached double figures including Makris' senior running mate John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.), a fellow 1,000-point scorer on the Endicott roster. Henault netted 11 points and led the team with four assists. Sophomore guard Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) had an explosive game in 17 minutes off the bench, scoring 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, 2-of-5 from beyond the arc, and 2-of-2 at the free throw line. Sawyer also had three defensive rebounds and two assists in the win.
While Thursday was not Endicott's most efficient shooting performance (44% from the field, 38% from three-point range), it was one of their better defensive efforts as the Gulls limited Roger Williams to 30% from the floor and 21% (6-of-28) from long range. The Hawks saw starter Alex Puzone (North Haven, Conn.) score in double figures with 11 points on three three-pointers and two free throws to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Fellow freshman forward Conor O'Brien (Sharon, Mass.) scored 10 points off the bench and grabbed four rebounds, two on the offensive glass, with an assist and a steal.
Endicott held a significant rebounding advantage at 48-35 thanks in large part to Sampson but also to rebounding output of the guards. Sophomore guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) scored five points, dished out three assists, and had two steals but also was aggressive on the boards with seven rebounds. Walker also had seven and off the bench, sophomores Stephen Basden (Lynn, Mass.) and Chris Lipscomb (West Springfield, Mass.) added five and four caroms, respectively.
Endicott will host Curry on Saturday while Roger Williams hosts Wentworth (6-5, 4-0 CCC) on the same day for a 3:00 pm tip-off.
