WENHAM, Mass. – One of the Endicott men's basketball program's most consistent players, senior guard John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.), scored a team-high 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 2-of-3 beyond the three-point line, and 6-of-6 at the free throw line and led the Gulls to a 68-61 win over CCC rival Gordon on Saturday afternoon.
Endicott (13-5, 9-2 CCC) is winners of a season-best four straight games and with the victory, the Gulls ended a five-game losing streak to Gordon. Endicott now turns their attention to a Tuesday night showdown with CCC opponent Salve Regina (5-14, 2-10 CCC) who will be coming off a 60-49 loss at Wentworth on Saturday. The Gulls defeated Salve Regina 83-63 back on January 6th as Henault was one of three Endicott players to score a team-high 15 points that game.
Gordon (7-11, 4-7 CCC) saw senior forward Hans Miersma (Whitinsville, Mass.) recorded a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds but the Scots lost their fifth contest in six tries. Gordon travels to Western New England (8-11, 6-6 CCC) on Tuesday night.
Henault added three assists, two rebounds, and two steals to his stat line as he scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half including a pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining to help seal the win. Henault, the program's third-leading scorer all-time at 1,352 career points, is averaging 11.4 points per game in his senior season.
Endicott's leading scorer in the 2014-15 season, sophomore guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.), missed his first seven shots of the game before regaining his touch by knocking down four of his six attempts including an acrobatic layup with 32 seconds remaining in the game to make it a five-point Gulls lead. Walker finished with 13 points, four rebounds, and an assist.
Sophomore forward Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) played a consistent game, netting 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting including a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. He hauled in seven rebounds and blocked two shots in the winning effort as well. Fellow big men Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) and Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) added seven and four points, respectively, and both blocked shots down low while dealing with foul trouble.
Facilitating the Endicott offense were sophomore guards Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) and Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) who combined for six assists. Motroni led all players with four assists as he maintains his team-best 3.3 assists per game average.
Gordon got 13 points off the bench from sophomore forward Dominic Paradis (Rochester, N.H.) and eight points apiece in starting roles from guards Jaren Yang (San Francisco, Calif.) and Taylor Bajema (Whitinsville, Mass.). Freshman forward Carter Bras (Coppell, Texas) scored seven points off the bench as well, including a three-pointer that helped Gordon build an early 18-13 lead over Endicott.
Trailing by as many as seven points midway through the first half, Endicott battled back to take the lead at 32-29 after a Makris three-point make. In the final seconds of the first half and the scoreboard knotted at 33, Endicott was able to take a two-point halftime lead as Motroni shook off his defender and hit a fade-away jumper as the buzzer sounded off.
Endicott slowly built a seven-point lead early in the second half as Walker started to heat up by attacking the rim and going to the free throw line. Free throws by the sophomore with 11:31 remaining made it a 50-43 game but Gordon clawed back in it and trailed by just one point (59-58, 4:44 2nd) after a Paradis jumper. A layup by Sampson and free throws by Motroni pushed Endicott's lead up to 63-58 with 2:23 remaining in the game but the Scots made it a one-possession game after a Miersma layup out of a timeout with 1:05 on the clock.
Leading 63-60, Walker once again attacked the rim, absorbed contacted in the lane, and threw up a lefty layup off the glass that went in to make it 65-60 with 32 seconds left. Endicott went on to seal the win with free throws.
Endicott shot just 39% in the game overall and 38% (6-of-16) from three-point range. The Gulls, however, did convert 20-of-28 (71%) free throw attempts compared to just 56% by their counterparts. Gordon shot 42% from the floor and just 25% (4-of-16) from beyond the arc.
