BEVERLY, Mass. – Sixteen points off the bench and a double-double by a pair of freshmen helped the Endicott men's basketball claim their first CCC victory of the season as the Gulls warded off a hot-shooting Eastern Nazarene squad 78-77 on Saturday afternoon. Freshman guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) netted a team-high 16 points with four assists and two steals while freshman forward Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, 15 boards, and five blocks in Endicott's final home game of the first semester.
Endicott will take a 5-2 (1-1 CCC) record into the Salem State Holiday Classic Tournament on December 29th-30th when they take on Berkeley (N.Y.) on day one of the invitational before playing the host Salem State Vikings the following day. The Gulls have won two previous meetings with Berkeley (N.Y.), winning 72-64 in the 2009-10 season and 94-80 in 2010-11. Against the Vikings, Endicott is just 1-4 with their lone victory coming in January of 2012, a 94-89 win at home.
Eastern Nazarene (6-1, 1-1 CCC), unbeaten coming into Saturday's conference match up, suffered their first loss but matched the 1996-97 Lions squad that set a previous program record with a 6-1 start to their season. The Lions are off through the holidays, returning to action on January 2nd with a home, non-conference game against UMaine-Presque Isle.
With under six minutes remaining in the game and the Gulls leading by seven, 67-60, the Lions stormed back to the tie the game as sophomore guard Jaylen Owens (Johns Creek, Ga.) hit three of his five three-pointers late in the game to catapult Eastern Nazarene back into the game. Free throws by Lions senior Brian Hard (Weymouth, Mass.) tied the game at 73 with 3:11 remaining and a Dylan Saenz (Port Lavaca, Texas) jumper knotted the score at 77 with just 36 ticks remaining.
Endicott edged ahead 78-77 after Walker attacked the hoop to draw a foul and made the first of his two free throws. Eastern Nazarene had an opportunity to take the lead with time winding down, but a layup rimmed out and Gulls sophomore Deven Richardson (Newark, N.J.) grabbed a big defensive rebound to give Endicott possession with five seconds left. Eastern Nazarene's desperation three from just inside half court fell short as the Blue and Green grinded out their first conference win.
Walker finished 7-of-11 from the floor and tied teammate Greg Jacques (Brockton, Mass.) and Eastern Nazarene's Owens for a game-high four assists. Sampson recorded his first career double-double and his five blocks were part of a 12-block effort defensively for the Gulls. Junior forward Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.), sophomore forward Taylor Rioux(Ivoryton, Conn.), and Richardson all swatted two shots each.
Rioux was also a contributed on the offensive end, scoring 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Makris added nine points while junior guard John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) added seven points with five rebounds. Senior guard Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia), in his second game back from injury, finished with five points and is now just nine points away from becoming the 10th Endicott men's basketball player to reach the 1,000 career point plateau.
Owens dropped a game-high 21 points for Eastern Nazarene, netting 7-of-19 shots from the floor, five of which came from three-point range. Owens led a strong shooting Lions team that sunk 12 attempts from beyond the arc as Hard, Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.), and Christian Lynch (Alpharetta, Ga.) all hit multiple threes.
As a team, Endicott shot 50% from the floor but struggled from long range (22%) and at the free throw line (56%). The Gulls dominated the paint, outscoring Eastern Nazarene 50-22 and took advantage of fast-break opportunities by scoring 16 points on the run. Endicott held a 48-42 rebounding in the game.
Eastern Nazarene shot just 33% overall but hit 35% (12-of-34) from three-point range and 75% (15-of-20) at the charity stripe. The Lions scored 22 points off Endicott's 19 turnovers and 18 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds.