CCC SEMIFINALS: No. 2 Western New England Tops No. 3 Men’s Basketball, 79-71

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The Endicott men's basketball team fell to Western New England (WNE), 79-71, in the semifinal round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament on Thursday evening. 

Jalen Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) led the Gulls with a game-high 22 points (9-18 FG).

Jeff Hill (Lynn, Mass.) added 20 points while, Dillon Grant (Dennis, Mass.) chipped in with nine points and four rebounds.

Mark Barrett (Brookline, Mass.) rounded out the individual highlights by stuffing in the stat sheet with six points, seven rebounds, and five dimes.

In the opening stanza, Western New England went on a 14-2 run to jump out a 36-21 lead with 5:06 to play. 

Endicott eventually responded with a 6-0 run over the final 1:34 of the half to bring the game within 10 points (42-32) at the break. 

The spurt was paced by an Echevarria jumper, a pair of Hill free-throws, and a mid-range jump shot by Drew Brown (Pelham, N.H.) as time expired.  

From there, the Gulls fell behind by as many as 16 points (61-45) with 11:24 left in the second half before a 9-2 stretch chipped away at the WNE lead, 66-58. The run was fueled by Echevarria (4), Barrett, and Cam Homsey (Windham, N.H.) (1).

The Golden Bears answered with an 8-0 run to take control of the rest of the matchup and advance to the CCC Championship game for the first time in program history.  

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott holds an 18-12 advantage in the all-time series.
• This matchup marks the fifth CCC semifinal appearance in the last 10 seasons for the Gulls, excluding the abbreviated 2020-2021 season.
• Western New England outscored Endicott 46-28 in the painted area and shot an impressive 56.1% from the field (5-0 this season when shooting at a 56% clip or better).
• The Gulls turned the Golden Bears over 16 times and scored 25 points off those miscues.
• The hosts outrebounded the visitors, 42-28.
• The Golden Bears finished plus-4 on the offensive glass and scored 15 points off those second chances.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 2 Western New England (21-7) will travel to No. 1 Nichols (22-5) on Saturday, February 25 for the CCC Championship (time TBD).

Endicott's season comes to a close at 17-10. 

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(Photo Credit - Emma Purple '24)