BEVERLY, Mass. — The Endicott men's basketball team fell to Roger Williams (RWU), 93-90, in a back-and-forth Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) matchup on Wednesday night at MacDonald Gymnasium. 

Jalen Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) led a quartet of Gulls in double-figures courtesy of a season-best 29 points (13-23 FG, 2-6 3PT) including 19 points in the second half. 

Elijah Kinney (Nashville, Tenn.) added 21 points (9-11 FG, 1-1 3PT, 2-2 FT) and six boards. 

The duo of Mark Barrett (Brookline, Mass.) and Ty Vitko (Dover, N.H.) also pitched in with 12 and 10 points, respectively. 

In the opening stanza, the Gulls soared out to a 13-3 lead with 16:20 to play. The start was fueled by an Echevarria jumper, a pair of freebies, a three-ball, and a layup from Kinney, a Barrett lay-in, and Jeff Hill (Lynn, Mass.) cashed a mid-range jump shot. 

Halfway through the first frame, the Hawks countered with a 10-4 stretch to deadlock the game at 19-19.

From there, the Gulls outscored RWU, 15-7 in the final 4:43 of the half and led 44-35 at the break. Echevarria and Liam Dunfee (Nahant, Mass.) spearheaded the burst with five and four points, respectively. 

The Hawks came out of the locker room on a 14-6 run to cut the Endicott lead to 54-53 before Echevarria manufactured seven consecutive points to regain a 61-53 edge with 13 minutes to go.

Meanwhile, the visitors responded with 14 straight points over a 3:07 span to gain their first lead of the contest (67-61) with 10:36 to play.

Both teams traded baskets for the next eight minutes of action.

Eventually, Nate Lopes (Scituate, Mass.) converted a layup with 51 seconds to play. Echevarria countered with a mid-range jumper to increase the Gulls' lead to 90-85 with 20 seconds left. 

The Hawks made a layup and later fouled Hill with 10 seconds to go, but Hill missed the front end of the one-and-one.

The Blue and Green fouled the Hawks to prevent a potential three-pointer, and RWU's Phillip Sughrue (Winchester, Mass.) knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 90-89. 

An Endicott technical foul later gave two free throws and the possession back to Roger Williams, which resulted in four points to provide the difference late in the contest.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Gulls are 35-12 all-time against the Hawks.
• The Endicott defense created 16 Roger Williams turnovers which resulted in 27 points off those miscues.
• Prior to tonight's contest, Endicott ranked first in the conference with 83.6 PPG, while Roger Williams was tied for second with 81.9 PPG.
• The Blue and Green are 5-2 when scoring 90 points or more. 
• The hosts outscored the visitors in the key, 58-34. 

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (10-6, 5-3 CCC) visits Wentworth on Saturday, January 20 at 2:00 PM. Roger Williams (9-7, 7-1 CCC) hosts Suffolk on Saturday at 3:00 PM. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

(Photo Credit - Leanna Puccio '24)