Second-half surge sends Salve Regina past Endicott in Gulls home opener

BEVERLY, Mass. – Despite a single digit lead for much of the second half, the Endicott men's basketball team saw CCC rival Salve Regina overcome their deficit to win 84-78 and spoil the Gulls home opener on Wednesday evening at MacDonald Gymnasium.

The game was the first of two regular season contests between Endicott and Salve Regina who met in last season's CCC Championship.  The Gulls won that game 90-66 to go to the NCAA Tournament, but faltered due to late game heroics by Seahawks junior Patrick Dinneen (Medfield, Mass.) who scored 10 of his team's final 19 points over the remaining 7:40 of the game to get the comeback win.  These two teams will meet again on Wednesday, January 23^rd at 7:30 pm in Newport, R.I.

Endicott (2-1, 0-1 CCC) saw junior forward Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia) score a game-high 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor and 7-of-9 at the free throw line with two assists and a block.  Senior guard Lance Greene (Dorchester, Mass.) added 19 points with six rebounds, five steals, and three assists in the loss.  The Gulls host their second league game of the season on Saturday, December 1^st with a 3:00 pm tip-off.

Salve Regina (3-1, 1-0 CCC) got a team-high 18 points from junior guard Isiah Pringle (Queens, N.Y.) who drained 4-of-10 three-point attempts.  The Seahawks hit nine three pointers as a team and shot well from the free throw line, sinking 19-of-23 (82.6%) attempts.  Salve Regina next hosts CCC foe University of New England on Saturday.

An early five-point lead by Salve Regina, after Brendan Canova (Edina, Minn.) hit a three-point shot to make it 16-11 at 14:07 in the first half, was quickly erased as the Gulls after forward Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) hit a jumper in the lane, was fouled, and made his free throw to put Endicott on top 23-22 with 8:25 to go.  Endicott would stretch their first half lead to eight points with just 11 seconds remaining in opening stanza before Pringle's three-ball as time expired made it 44-39 Endicott at the break.

A 7-3 run to start the second half put the Blue and Green on top by nine at 51-42.  They would again hold a nine-point advantage at 56-47 at the 14:21 mark of the second half before Salve Regina mounted their comeback.  The Seahawks used a 12-4 stretch capped off by back-to-back layups by senior guard William Smiley (Saunderstown, R.I.) to pull within one at 60-59. 

Salve Regina would finally take the lead in the second with 6:00 remaining as Dinneen hit a layup and made his free throw after the foul to put the visitors on top 74-71.  The Seahawks never let the Gulls get closer than three points as they held on for the six-point victory.

Endicott's sophomore big man Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) put up strong numbers in 20 game minutes with 10 points on 4-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-3 at the charity stripe with seven rebounds and three blocks.  Fellow sophomores Makris and John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) added 13 and nine points in the loss. 

Along with Pringle and Dinneen's double-digit efforts, junior Joshua Hohlfelder (Noank, Conn.) and freshman Doug Henton (New London, Conn.) contributed with 14 and 10 points, respectively.  Smiley had nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.  Henton, Canova, and Smiley each had three assists.