Nov. 23, 2004

Beverly, MA-- Endicott College fought off a tough Keene State squad in the Gulls home opener. The Gulls trailed the majority of the game, but continued to battle back throughout the contest. With 10 seconds remaining Josh Oxton hit a floater in the lane, giving the Gulls a 76-75 victory.

Senior Josh Oxton led the Gulls with 22 points and seven steals. Matt George tallied 20 points for EC and went six for six from the foul line. Last season's Commonwealth Coast Conference Rookie of the Year, Nemanja Marinkovic, added 12 points and pulled down four rebounds for the Gulls.

Endicott trailed by 6 at the break (40-34) as the Gulls fought through a cold shooting half. Endicott used it's pressure defense to erase an 11-point deficit in the second half, trailing 47-36 with 16 minutes to go. The Gulls came up with 12 steals for the night, 9 in the second half. Josh Oxton led the Gulls with 7 steals to go along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. As Endicott turned up the defensive pressure their shooting also began to heat up. Zach Ellis made 3 3-point field goals in the last six minutes to chip into Keene State's lead setting the stage for Oxton's late game heroics.

Sean Sullivan led the Keene State Owls with 23 points. David Sontag finished with 18 points and six rebounds. Freshman Erik Schlacter also added 14 points.

The Gulls improve their record to 2-1, and hand the Owls their first loss of the season (2-1). EC hosts Wheaton College in a non-conference matchup December 4th. Tip-off is 2:00PM.