BEVERLY, Mass. – After a nine-day layoff from competition due to postponements caused by winter storms, the Endicott men's basketball returned to action and defeated CCC opponent University of New England 72-50 as senior captains John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) and Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) each scored a game-high 16 points.
Endicott (12-5, 8-2 CCC) won their third straight game and completed the regular season sweep of the Nor'easters after beating them back on December 6th in Biddeford, Maine. The Gulls look to create a season-high win-streak of four when they travel to crosstown rival Gordon on Saturday, January 31st for a 3:00 p.m. tip-off. Gordon (7-10, 4-6 CCC) defeated Endicott 75-71 OT back on December 3rd but have lost four of their last five games including Thursday's 55-50 home loss to Wentworth.
UNE (5-13, 3-8 CCC) lost their fourth straight game and will look to rejoin the win column on Saturday at Eastern Nazarene (15-2, 8-2 CCC). Tip-off is at 3:00 p.m. against a Lions squad that captured a 73-67 road victory over Curry Thursday night.
UNE opened the game on a 6-2 run courtesy of back-to-back baskets by first year forward Evrim Ozkan (Istanbul, Turkey) and sophomore guard Jean-Luc Parker (Georgetown, Texas) followed later by a layup off the hand of freshman guard Drew Coveney (Londonderry, N.H.) just under two minutes into the game that made it 6-2 Nor'easters. The Gulls quickly got back in the game and on the first of three first-half jumpers made from beyond the arc by Makris Endicott was able to take a 7-6 lead.
The two teams battled back-and-forth for the next several minutes by exchanging the lead six more times. Following a UNE 30-second timeout after a Parker layup made it a 21-19 game, Endicott went on a 20-4 run to end the half and own a 41-23 advantage at the break. Makris scored a team-high 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting including 3-of-4 from three-point range in the opening half while Henault added eight. Both Henault and sophomore guard Stephen Basden (Lynn, Mass.) both hauled in six rebounds in the period with Basden going on to lead all players with a career-high 10 boards.
The Nor'easters were electric to start the second half, executing a 14-3 run over a span of 4:22 to force an Endicott timeout trailing by just seven points (44-37). UNE spread the ball around during that stretch but saw junior guard Devin Thompson (Winthrop, Mass.) score five of those points to get his team back in the game.
Leading by eight at 48-40 with 13:48 remaining in the half, Endicott once again orchestrated a lengthy run to build their largest lead of the game (25 points) with 5:43 left until the final buzzer. Henault's final basket of the game, a three-pointer, capped off the 20-3 run and put the game out of reach for UNE. Both teams emptied out their benches over the final minutes of the game as Endicott settled for a 72-50 win.
Endicott shot 43% from the field which included 9-of-18 (50%) from three-point range while knocking down 83% (15-of-18) attempts at the free throw line. Thanks in part to Basden's career mark for rebounding, Endicott held a significant 44-27 advantage on the glass. The Gulls defense limited UNE to 38% shooting from the floor and just 18% (3-of-17) from three-point range. UNE made just 5-of-11 free throws.
Sophomore guards Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) and Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) contributed with 10 and nine points, respectively, out of the backcourt. Sawyer and fellow sophomore Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) each had a team-best two assists.
UNE was led with nine points from Ozkan, eight points from Parker, seven from Thompson, and six by sophomore guard CJ Autry (Standish, Maine).
