Posted: Feb 17, 2010
BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott College senior \#Graham Whitelaw\# (Kennebunk, Maine) scored 10 points en route to becoming the ninth player in program history to score 1,000 points in his career as the Gulls defeated visiting New England College, 73-60, on Wednesday night in The Commonwealth Coast Conference men’s basketball action. With the win, Endicott improves to 12-11 overall and 7-5 in the TCCC while the Pilgrims fall to 6-18 overall and 1-11 in league games.
Before the game, the Gulls celebrated their annual senior night and honored \#Graham Whitelaw\#, \#Bobby Montrond\# (Brockton, Mass.), \#Mike Yoder\# (Mahopac, N.Y.) and \#Kevin McGuire\# (New City, N.Y.) for their contributions to Endicott College and its athletic department.
It was a low-scoring half for both teams through the first 14 minutes of play as the teams combined to score only 29 points. Leading 16-13, NEC’s Jason Minerve (Narre Warren, Australia) hit a fast-break layup to make it a one point game before a dunk by \#Justin Martin\# (Cromwell, Conn.) and a three pointer by \#Mike Rhodes\# (Amston, Conn.) gave Endicott a six point lead with 3:27 to play in the opening half.
With less than a minute to play, NEC’s Abdi Mohamed (Biddeford, Maine) connected on a three ball to make it a three point game. Endicott raced the ball up the floor and with time ticking down, Whitelaw hit a runner from 15 feet away as time expired to give the Blue and Green a five point lead heading into the break.
\#Justin Martin\# led all scorers at the half with eight points while also grabbing six rebounds. The Pilgrims received seven points from Mohamed while Shane Hennessey (Plymouth, U.K.) grabbed four boards.
Coming out of the intermission, Whitelaw was a mere two points from joining Endicott’s 1,000 point club. While the senior struggled to find the mark, \#Aaron Karkow\# (Uncasville, Conn.) picked up the slack, connecting on four straight shots – including three triples – to give Endicott a 42-29 lead with 14:32 to play in the game.
Whitelaw inched closer to the mark, going 1-for-2 from the free throw line, and then got his chance at the 13:12 mark in the game. Following an NEC misstep, Whitelaw caught the ball off the inbound; shot faked his defender into the air, took a dribble to his left, and fired away from 18 feet and entered program history as the ninth player to score 1,000 points in his career.
Following a small timeout, Endicott turned its focus back to the game and after Whitelaw’s jumper, promptly went on a 10-3 run to open their lead up to 23 points with 10 minutes to play. NEC would not go down easily, chipping away at the EC lead by going on a 26-13 run capped off by a three pointer from Andrew MacDonald (Hanson, Mass.). Endicott would make its free throws, however, going 4-for-5 from the charity stripe en route to tightening its grip on a TCCC Playoff berth with the 73-60 win.
\#Aaron Karkow\# led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting, including a 5-for-7 showing from behind the arc, while \#Justin Martin\# just missed out on a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. \#Graham Whitelaw\# joined Karkow and Martin in double-figures with 10 points and \#Jamie D’Amaral\# (Scottsdale, Ariz.) chipped in with a game-high six assists.
New England College was led by a double-double from Shane Hennessey who had a team-high 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Abdi Mohamed also notched double-figures in scoring with 15 points.
The Blue and Green return to action on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. when the Gulls travel to Curry College for their regular season finale against the Colonels. NEC looks to play the spoiler as the Pilgrims travel to Boston, Mass. to take on Wentworth in a TCCC contest scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
