BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's basketball team defeated conference foe Western New England, 85-78, in overtime on Saturday afternoon at MacDonald Gymnasium.

Jalen Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) paced all scorers with a career-high-tying 35 points (14-22 FG, 3-8 3PT, 4-4 FT).

Off the bench, Liam Dunfee (Nahant, Mass.) contributed 12 points (5-10 FG, 2-2 FT) and seven rebounds, while Drew Brown (Pelham, N.H.) notched eight points and a career-high nine rebounds.

Elijah Kinney (Nashville, Tenn.) rounded out the list of individual highlights with nine points, four rebounds, and a steal.

Trailing by five points (65-60) with 5:44 to play, Endicott forced overtime with a 12-7 run fueled by five different scorers.

Dunfee eventually forced a tie at 65-65 (4:36 remaining) on a layup before Western New England answered back with a 6-1 run of its own (71-67, 3:15).

The Gulls never wavered as Mark Barrett (Brookline, Mass.) splashed a three-pointer at 1:29 (71-70) and Kinney took advantage of the Golden Bears 1-for-2 showing at the free throw line by converting a layup (assist Brown) with 32-ticks on the scoreboard to force the extra session.

In OT, Kinney and Brown guided a balanced attack for the Gulls scoring a team-high four points each to seal the comeback victory.

Kinney slammed home two dunks, while Brown canned all of his points at the free throw line.

Endicott never trailed in the overtime period.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott is 19-13 all-time against Western New England (broke a two-game losing streak).
• The Gulls move to 8-4 at home; the Golden Bears fall to 7-4 on the road.
• Echevarria has scored double-digit points in eight straight games.
• Western New England saw its three-game winning streak snapped with today's setback.
• The Blue and Green outscored the Golden Bears in bench points (29-17) and points in the paint (42-34).
• The largest lead of the game for either side was nine (WNE, 1st half, 16:22).

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (15-8, 9-5 CCC) travels to Curry on Wednesday, February 14 at 7:30 PM. Western New England (17-6, 12-3 CCC) hosts Hartford next Wednesday at 7:30 PM. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

(Photo Credit - Jonny Ratner '25)