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BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's basketball team leaped over their North Shore rivals in the CCC standings following a 68-62 victory over the Gordon Fighting Scots on Tuesday evening. The Blue and Green held off Gordon in the second half with a 50.0% field goal shooting and 14-of-21 makes from the free throw line.
Endicott (10-4, 5-2 CCC) ran their recent win-streak to three games and have won six of their last seven games dating back to December 13th. Gordon (6-8, 5-2 CCC) dropped their second game in-a-row after a snapping a three-game winning streak to Salve Regina last Saturday.
Endicott success in the second half was due in large part to 14 points by junior guard Lance Greene (Dorchester, Mass.) who finished tied with Gordon's Park Thomas (Scotsdale, Ariz.) with a game-high 16 points. In the second half, Greene was 4-of-7 from the floor and converted 6-of-7 free throw attempts, taking advantage of a Scots team that was in foul trouble late in the game.
Greene and senior forward Erik Callo (Southington, Conn.) each dished out five assists to lead all players. Callo added nine points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots in 36 minutes on the court.
For Gordon, Thomas' 16 points paced a Scots offense that had three players in double figures. Thomas went 6-of-12 from the field with two makes from beyond the arc. Junior forward David Dempsey (Wallingford, Conn.) had 13 points, six rebounds and three assists in the game while sophomore guard Luke Hamilton (Mount Airy, N.C.) added 10 points.
Scots senior big man Jordan Kelly (Braintree, Mass.) was a monster on the boards with eight of his game-high 11 rebounds coming on the offensive glass. Kelly also had two blocks.
The Gulls started off hot in the first half, scoring the game's first seven points over a 1:17 period. Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.), John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) and Callo each had buckets to help Endicott take the early advantage.
Gordon fought back to make it 11-8 after a Cooper Meyer (Manito, Ill.) three-pointer and a free throw make by Kelly following an offensive rebound and a foul.
Another Endicott run made it 19-11 with 9:24 to go in the half, but seven straight points by the Scots pulled the visitors back to within three. The first half remained close and Endicott went into halftime with a narrow 29-26 lead.
In the second half, Gordon earned their first lead of the game at the 17:16 mark following a three-ball by Hamilton that put the Scots up 33-32.
After an Endicott free throw tied the game up at 33, Gordon went on a 7-2 run that gave them their largest lead of the game at five points. The run was capped off by a three-pointer by sophomore Shaun Roach (Weymouth, Mass.), his only basket of the game.
The Gulls, however, scored 16 of the next 21 points to build a six-point advantage at 51-45 with 6:58 to go. Endicott would stretch that lead to as large as 13 points with just under two and a half minutes to play. Gordon attempted to rally, trimming Endicott's lead down to single digits but the Gulls hung on for the league victory.
Endicott held a slim 44 to 41 advantage on the boards, but Gordon had 16 offensive rebounds compared to 12 for the Gulls. Endicott controlled points in the paint, outscoring their opponent 28-16 in that category as well as fast-break points (8-0) and bench points (18-9).
Endicott looks to make it four in-a-row when they travel to winless University of New England on Thursday, January 19th. Tip-off is at 7:30 pm. Gordon visits Wentworth on the same night for a 7:30 pm start. Both games are CCC contests.
