The Gulls managed to tie things back up twice in the two minutes that followed, but UNE responded both times and never trailed in the final six minutes.

With the triumph and season sweep of Endicott, the Nor'easters (5-18, 4-12 CCC) remain in contention for the last spot in the upcoming conference tournament with two games left in the regular-season. The Gulls drop to 9-14 overall and 4-12 in league play with the setback.

First-year Jesse Dykstra (Douglas, Mass.) notched a double-double to pace Big Blue, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. He made 6 of 11 shots from the floor, including 3-of-6 from downtown, and added four assists and three blocks. Classmate Devin Thompson (Winthrop, Mass.) also knocked down three treys en route to 13 points, and senior Chris Ouellette (East Millinocket, Maine) hit a pair from deep and finished with 10.

Senior Sam Simpson (Eustis, Maine) and classmate Joseph Dadiego (Westbrook, Maine) chipped in with eight and six points, respectively. Simpson, Dadiego, and Thompson all recorded four assists.

For Endicott, sophomore John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) dropped in a game-high 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the floor to stand as the only player in double figures for the visitors. Junior Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia) had seven points and a team-high nine boards, and sophomore Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) also tallied seven points.

UNE lead with under eight minutes left on the clock in the first half (21-19), before reeling off 12 straight points to assume its largest cushion of the night at 14. Ouellette had half of his 10 in the three-minute run.

Henault brought the difference back into single digits with the last five before the break, but the Nor'easters still held a 35-26 advantage at intermission. Dykstra matched Henault with 13 points in the frame, helping Big Blue shoot 46.7 percent (14 for 30) and bury six from long range.

After Thompson began the second period with another three-pointer to up the lead to 12 (38-26), the Gulls started to chip away at the deficit. Over the next 11 minutes, Endicott out-scored its opponent by a margin of 21-5. Henault posted 10 points during the rally, and Kneece contributed five.

Facing their largest deficit of the contest (47-43), Simpson answered for UNE with an old-fashioned three-point play, and lay-ups from Dadiego and Dykstra came moments later to restore the lead (50-47) for the home side.

Then, tied a 54-54 with less than two minutes to play, Thompson hit a shot from deep at the 1:37 mark to put the Nor'easters in front for good. Endicott sophomore Andrew Makris (Southbury, Conn.) and UNE senior Alex Alsadi (Scottsdale, Ariz.) traded hoops before the Nor'easters added 1-of-2 at the charity stripe to make it a two possession game with 13.9 seconds left.

Makris manage to sink a trey with 1.7 ticks remaining to provide the closing margin.

Big Blue heads to Nichols College on Thursday (7:30 p.m.) for another must-win CCC date. The Gulls return home to face league-leading Curry College at the same time.