Feb. 18, 2009
HENNIKER, N.H. - The Endicott College men's basketball team defeated the New England College Pilgrims, 73-63, on Wednesday night in TCCC action in Henniker, N.H. With the win, the Gulls improve to 10-14 overall and 5-6 in conference play, while the loss drops the Pilgrims to 2-21 overall and 0-12 in the conference. Endicott College's Graham Whitelaw (Kennebunk, Maine) scored a team-high 17 points to lead the Gulls.
Endicott would come out on fire hitting their first four shots building an early 8-0 lead. The Gull offense would continue to click as they would shoot an impressive 53% from the field in the opening half and lead by as many as 16 with just over nine minutes remaining. The Pilgrims would try to battle back, sinking four consecutive foul shots in the final minute of the half, but would still trail 42-27 heading into halftime.
The Pilgrims would cut the Gulls lead to just nine points early in the second half but again Endicott would answer, rebuilding their 16 point lead back up to 59-43 with 10:27 remaining in regulation. NEC would continue to chip away trailing just 10 points at the seven minute mark but that is as close as the Pilgrims would get as the Gulls defense would hold strong capturing the 73-63 victory.
Endicott's Bobby Montrond (Brockton, Mass.) finished with 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Erik Callo (Southington, Conn.) was the only other Gull in double figures finishing with 13 points.
Leading the way for NEC was Rafael Salado (Boston, Mass.) who finished with 17 points. NEC's Eric Lenahan (Point Pleasant, N.J.) scored 15 points and Shane Hennessey (Plymouth, England) chipped in 11 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for the Pilgrims.
Endicott will honor its lone senior Ross Stewart (Palm Harbor, Fla.) on Saturday in the Gulls last game of the regular season. The Gulls will host Curry College in a TCCC matchup scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
