DUDLEY, Mass.- The Endicott men's basketball team pulled off an 82-78 overtime road victory to open Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play against Nichols College on Wednesday behind a career-high night for junior forward Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.).

With the win, the Gulls improved to 3-2 overall, 1-0 in conference play, while Nichols dropped to (4-2, 0-1 CCC) in the home opener for the Bison.

Sampson recorded his second double-double of the season with a career-high 23 point, 19 rebound, three block performance - his most points and rebounds so far this year.

The Bison took a 34-30 lead into halftime, though leads didn't last long as the teams exchanged 23 lead changes in the game, and also featured 17 ties.

Junior forward Nate Tardy (Moodus, Conn.) made a game-tying three for the Bison with 22-seconds to go in regulation to send the game into overtime, tied 65-65. Endicott then had a chance to win the game, but Walker's shot from the corner was off-target.

Junior guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) put the Gulls ahead for good with a jumper at 2:34 of overtime.

BEYOND THE BOX

• 15 rebounds was Sampson's previous single game career-high set on Dec. 7, 2013 against Eastern Nazarene.
• Sampson's career-high19 boards (eight offensive) are good for second on the all-time program list for most rebounds in a single game. (Nemanja Marinkovic had 20 against Gordon on Jan. 20, 2003).
• This was the second time these two teams have gone to overtime all-time (Endicott previously won 69-68 in OT on Jan. 11, 2011 in Dudley, Mass.).
• The Gulls are 1-0 in overtime this season, while Nichols is 0-1 in OT.
• Junior guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) fouled out for the fifth time in his career (58 games) and first of the season, but still managed to score 20 points (seven rebounds, five assists, one steal) to extend his double-digit scoring streak to 17 consecutive games dating back to when it began on Jan. 31, 2015.
• Junior guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) tallied his fifth double-digit scoring attack of the season with a 16-point, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals performance.

FOR THE FOES

• Three-time CCC Rookie of the Week freshman guard Marcos Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) finished with 13 points on 4-of-16 shooting (3-of-10 from three-point range).
• Junior forward Devin Stallings (Waterbury, Conn.) notched a double-double with 11 points and a team-high 15 rebounds
• Senior guard and captain Irving Eggleston (East Lyme, Conn.) led the Bison with 21 points but shot just 6-of-22 from the field.
• Nichols placed four players in double-figures (Eggleston, Koumare, Echevarria, Stallings).

NOTES

• Endicott is 15-8 all-time and 5-6 on the road against Nichols dating back to the 1999-2000 season.
• In the most previous meeting before tonight, Endicott edged Nichols, 85-80 in Beverly, Mass. on Feb. 11, 2015 to snap a five-game losing streak versus the Bison.
• Walker came into the game ranked third in the country for NCAA Division III in points per game (30.8).
• Endicott claimed the 2014-15 CCC Championship, while Nichols was the regular-season champion.
• Endicott handed Nichols its only conference loss last season.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Gulls (3-2, 1-0 CCC) will host Eastern Nazarene College on Saturday, December 5 at 3:00 p.m. Nichols (4-2, 0-1 CCC) travels to Wentworth for a 3:00 p.m. conference tip on Saturday, December 5 in Boston, Mass. 

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