BEVERLY, Mass. – Seventeen points from sophomore guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) and six assists off the hands of sophomore guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) helped the Endicott men's basketball capture a 63-54 win over Wentworth in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Tuesday evening.
Endicott (11-5) is now 7-2 after the first round of games through the conference schedule. The Gulls host Eastern Nazarene (14-2, 7-2 CCC) on Saturday, January 24th for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off, a game that will create separation between the second and third place teams in the CCC standings. Back on December 9th, Endicott issued Eastern Nazarene their first loss of the 2014-15 season with an 88-70 win in Quincy.
Wentworth (6-10, 4-5 CCC) will play CCC opponent Curry (4-12, 2-7 CCC) for the second time this season on Saturday with tip-off occurring at 3:00 p.m. The Leopards won 72-53 in the previous meeting between these two squads.
Motroni's 17 points came on 6-of-10 shooting and 4-of-5 at the free throw line as the sophomore also grabbed five defensive boards and dished out two assists. Walker helped to facilitate an Endicott squad that led the game from start to finish, building a lead as large as 15 points in the first half (25-10, 7:27 1st) and garnering their biggest advantage of 19 points with 5:22 remaining in the game (61-42).
Endicott also benefited from some hot-shooting off the bench as senior captain Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) knocked down 4-of-5 three-point attempts for 12 points and in the process moved into 11th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,039 career points. Makris moved past former two-time All-CCC guard Graham Whitelaw '10 with his first three-ball just five seconds after stepping onto the court.
Despite Endicott's 15-point first-half lead, Wentworth used strong rebounding and defense to get back into the game. Six of junior forward Ian Therriault's (Auburn, Maine) game-high eight rebounds came in the first half including four on the offensive glass that helped generate a 40-32 overall rebounding advantage for Wentworth. Leopards senior guard Nico Donato (Glastonbury, Conn.) recorded two steals in the opening half and freshman guard Cesar Fulcar (Watertown, Mass.) swiped three in the second half as Wentworth finished with 10 as a team.
Wentworth leaned on senior big man John-Michael Fragnoli (Schenectady, N.Y.) to provide offense as Fragnoli responded with 16 points on 8-of-14 from the field with five rebounds, four offensive, and one steal. Donato was able to contribute with 10 points to go along with five rebounds, two steals, and an assist.
After going down by 19 with 5:22 to go in the second half, Wentworth made one final push with an 10-0 run to make it a nine-point game. With just 18 ticks left and late free throws by Motroni, however, Endicott was able to secure the 63-54 victory at MacDonald Gymnasium.
Endicott shot 45% overall as a team, drained 9-of-18 (50%) three-point attempts, and made 6-of-7 free throw attempts. The Gulls were able to generate 17 points off turnovers and saw their bench outscore Wentworth's 21-12. Wentworth shot 36% in the game and converted just 21% (5-of-24) of their attempts from beyond the arc. The Leopards were 5-of-10 at the free throw line. Wentworth held a 40-32 rebounding advantage and outscored Endicott 24-20 in the paint.
