BEVERLY, Mass. – A runner by junior Lance Green (Dorchester, Mass.) with less than three seconds remaining helped the Endicott men's basketball team defeat the Mass. College of Liberal Arts Trailblazers 77-75 and win the North Shore Collegiate Tip-Off Tournament presented by Comfort Inn North Shore.

Greene, who had 11 points, six rebounds and five steals, was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. Freshman Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.), who had fifteen points Saturday after an 11 rebound, 12 point effort Friday night, was chosen as the other Endicott member of the All-Tournament team.

Five players were in double-digits for the second night in a row for Endicott, who was co-led in scoring by Makris and fellow freshmen John Henault (Lunenberg, Mass.). Makris also led the team on the glass with nine boards, six of them on the offensive glass, and was 2-4 from behind the three-point arc, while Henault shot 5-of-8 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line.

After the opening ten minutes of play, the Gulls built a lead that hovered between five and ten points for the majority of the game, including a seven point lead at the break, 41-34. Trailing by four points with 1:30 to play, the Trailblazers got a layup from Chris Harris (Boston, Mass.) and a steal by guard Tyrell Mosley (Boston, Mass.). That set up a game-tying layup by Tyriq Rochester (Orange, Mass.), who was MCLA's clutch performer all afternoon. Rochester poured in 22 points en route to being named to the All-Tournament team, where he was joined by his teammate Harris.

After a pair of Green free-throws re-tied the game, Harris helped MCLA retake the lead with a layup of his own. Harris finished with eleven points in the game and, along with Mosley, co-led the Trailblazers with seven rebounds.

With the clock running down, Greene kept the ball and sliced into the paint, flicking up a floater that trickled in to give the Gulls the lead. MCLA was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer sounded, and the Trailblazers fell to 1-2 on the season. Endicott picked up their second victory in three games.

Endicott was outrebounded by the visitors 46-36, but at 40%, shot slightly higher from the field than MCLA. Each team had sixteen assists, with Aaron Karkow's (Uncasville, Conn.) four dimes leading the way for Endicott and Bilal Shabazz (Schenectady, N.Y.) pitching in four of his own for the Trailblazers, to go with four steals.

Makris, Karkow, and Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) each had two blocks for the Gulls. Kneece added seven points off the bench, while MCLA's bench scoring was led by Richard Johnson (Springfield, Mass.), who had eight points and six rebounds.

Endicott will play their final game before Thanksgiving break on Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Green Mountain College in Vermont. That game is set to tip-off at 4:00 pm. The Trailblazers will host Keene State on Tuesday at 7:00 pm.