BEVERLY, Mass. – After a 88-68 loss at home to the CCC's top ranked Curry Colonels and with Western New England victory over Eastern Nazarene, the Endicott men's basketball team's hopes for another run at a conference championship were subdued.
After playing some of their best basketball of the season in the first half against the Colonels (17-7, 14-3 CCC), Endicott (9-15, 4-13 CCC) fell flat against a pair of double-double performances by Curry senior guard Sedale Jones (Pittsfield, Mass.) and junior forward A.J. Stephens (Stamford, Conn.). Jones, already the league's second-leading scorer, dropped 29 points and hauled in 12 boards while tallying three assists, three steals, and a block. Stephens finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds for his double-double.
Jones and Stephens combined for 10 of Curry's 19 offensive rebounds as the Colonels totaled a rebounding edge of 48-29 in the road victory.
Endicott was paced offensively by sophomore guard John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) who scored 18 points on 8-of-15 from the floor. Henault continued his quest to be the nation's top free throw shooter with another 2-for-2 effort at the free throw line and now sits at 94.0% efficiency with one regular season game remaining.
Although the Gulls got double-digit games out of junior Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia), whose 12-point effort brought him to within 23 points of 1,000 for his career, and 11 points off the bench by junior Bennett Knowlton (Shrewsbury, Mass.), the Blue and Green struggled to contain a Curry offense that shot 54.3% from the floor in the second half to erase a six-point halftime deficit.
In the first half, Endicott made 47.1% of their shots and saw Knowlton drain three three-pointers off the bench to build a lead as large as 18 points 37-19 with 5:58 to go in the opening half. Sophomore forwards Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) and Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) were also factors with six points and four rebounds apiece with Makris adding three assists and two blocked shots.
Over the final 5:58 of the first half, however, Curry used a balance scoring attack from Stephens and Jones as well as junior guard Lambros Papalambros (Quincy, Mass.) and sophomore guard Matt Russell (South Portland, Maine) to climb back into the game. Papalambros and Russell netted 10 and nine points, respectively, in the first half.
In the second half, Jones and Stephens took over the game with sophomore guard Antonio Jones (Boston, Mass.) adding nine points in 14 second period minutes. Jones netted 17 of his 29 points on 7-of-12 shooting while Stephens connected on 4-of-7 shots with 5-of-6 makes at the free throw line.
Endicott plays their final game of the season on Saturday, February 16th at home against Eastern Nazarene starting at 3:00 pm. The Gulls will take time before the game to honor senior captain and one of Endicott's all-time leading scorers Lance Greene (Dorchester, Mass.) with a pre-game Senior Day ceremony. Curry hits the road Saturday to face Wentworth before seeding for the CCC Tournament is officially released.