BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The University of New England men's basketball team finished with a 33-7 run, including the final eight points, to rally past Endicott College, 98-93, in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Wednesday night (Feb. 5) at the Harold Alfond Forum.

After falling behind by as many as 23 and trailing 86-65 with just over nine minutes remaining, the Nor'easters used three spurts to get back level at 90-90 at the 1:58 mark. UNE scored nine unanswered before the next Gulls basket, another eight prior to an Endicott layup, and then eight more to erase the deficit completely on an Avery DeBrito trey [Watch].

The visitors struck right back with a triple by Jalen Echevarria, only to see DeBrito keep the hosts going with 1:19 to go (93-92). Following an EC miss, the Nor'easters cashed in on a third offensive rebound as Drake Gavin buried a three-pointer from the top of the arc with 0:29 on the clock (95-93) [Watch]. A turnover and two DeBrito free throws padded the lead, and the Gulls could not find the range in the closing seconds.

UNE shot 11-of-16 from the floor during the deciding run, while Endicott connected on just 3-of-9 attempts and committed all of its seven 2nd-half turnovers.

The Nor'easters move to 12-9 overall and 6-6 in the CCC with the result. With their second straight setback, the Gulls (15-6) now top the conference standings by just one game at 9-3. 

DeBrito ended with 28 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists for UNE. Alex Kravchuk tallied 23 points, including 19 in the opening frame. Siddiq Canty added 16 points, Gavin went for 12, and J.R. Readproduced seven more; the trio accounted evenly for 22 down the stretch and 29 following halftime. The hosts made 55 percent of their field goals in the contest (36-for-66).

Keith Brown racked up 42 points for Endicott, highlighted by a 33-point 1st half that featured 7-of-10 accuracy from deep. His final trey of the stanza made him the EC career scoring leader, surpassing the 1,894 points of Kamahl Walker.

The Gulls received 19 points from Echevarria and another 19 out of junior Matt McDevitt, who recorded his 1,000th career point early in the 2nd period. McDevitt also collected a game-high 13 rebounds and dished out six helpers. Billy Arsenault had nine assists for Endicott, which hit 46 percent of its shots in the match.

Brown scored 11 in-a-row for EC to aid a 29-20 edge not far past the midway spot of the initial session, but UNE's next seven hoops were from long distance and the advantage swung to 41-35 in favor of the home squad. However, another 11-point surge by Brown pushed the Gulls back in front (46-41) and the intermission margin settled at 52-45.

The difference was five (63-58) in the 2nd before a 19-1 run in a span of four minutes increased the Endicott cushion to 82-59. Isaiah Godwin notched all of his nine points to power to the separation.