BEVERLY, Mass. – The 2014-15 Endicott men's basketball team became the fourth squad in program history to reach the 20-win plateau after the Gulls defeated Western New England by a score of 89-77 on Senior Day. Endicott will go into next week's CCC Tournament with a 20-5 (16-2 CCC) record and riding an 11-game win streak.
Endicott will now wait for the official pairings release from the conference office but are guaranteed to host a quarterfinal round game on Tuesday, February 24th. Game time will be announced when it becomes available. Western New England (8-17, 6-12 CCC) has also clinched a spot in the CCC Tournament and will have to play on the road in the playoffs as they currently sit in the bottom half of the league standings.
Endicott, the conference's second-leading three-point shooting team, knocked down a season-high 15 attempts from beyond the arc including eight which came in the second half. The Gulls were able to overcome a four-point deficit with 12:55 remaining in the second half to build a lead as large as 14 points at the 6:17 mark. During stretch of 6:38, Endicott orchestrated an 18-0 run that featured three-point baskets by three different players including two by sophomore guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) and one apiece for senior forward Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) and sophomore guard Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.).
Leading scorer and sophomore guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) drained two of his three three-point jumpers down the stretch to help maintain Endicott's double-digit lead. Walker would finish with a team-high 20 points while distributing four assists, grabbing one rebound, and registering a steal.
Three other Gulls would finish in double figures including senior guard John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) whose 15 points pulled him to within two points of becoming Endicott's second all-time leading scorer and moving ahead of former Gull great Nemanja Marinkovic '07. Henault currently has 1,439 points for his collegiate career.
Makris, who enjoyed a Senior Day win alongside Henault, Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.), and Tell White (New Castle, N.H.), inched himself closer to some program history as well. With one rebound against the Golden Bears, Makris now needs eight more boards to become the third player in Endicott men's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point, 500-rebound plateau, joining Marinkovic and Eric Simonelli '01. Makris also scored 11 points on Senior Day as he is now one point shy of 1,100 for his career.
Western New England trailed 41-35 at halftime but in the second found their shooting stroke by converting 8-of-14 three-point attempts including three for both senior Musa Elsir (Springfield, Mass.) and junior Nick DeFeo (Southington, Conn.). Elsir and DeFeo would finish with 16 and 14 points, respectively, while sophomore guard Mike Gelineau (Waltham, Mass.) had a game-high 21 points courtesy of 7-of-14 shooting and 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.
The Golden Bears also saw a gritty performance by junior center Zach Askew (Middletown, Conn.) who was two rebounds shy of a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Askew also had a block in the loss.
Endicott's bench outscored Western New England's 46-14 as Walker came on in relief of his senior teammates, Sawyer netted 11 points thanks to a perfect 3-of-3 from downtown, sophomore forward Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) scored nine points with eight boards, and sophomore guard Stephen Basden (Lynn, Mass.) went for six and six with an assist.
Endicott shot 52% from the field as a team including 50% (15-of-30) from long range and 73% (8-of-11) at the line. The Gulls outrebounded the Golden Bears 34-27, total 20 assists thanks to six from White, five from Henault, and four from Walker, and the team committed just seven turnovers.
