Flynn's Buzzer-Beater Sinks Endicott
Dec. 8, 2005
BEVERLY, MA - Senior guard Ryan Flynn (Hamilton, MA/Hamilton-Wenham) drilled a 16-foot jumper at the buzzer to keep Worcester Polytechnic Institute unbeaten with a dramatic, 61-60, come-from-behind victory over Endicott College Thursday night at MacDonald Gymnasium.
WPI, which is ranked 10th in the d3hoops.com Division III national poll with a record of 8-0, had 8.5 seconds remaining to get the win after the Gulls (4-4) missed two free throws. The Engineers put the game into Flynn's hands and the Hamilton native accepted the challenge. He faked driving into the lane, made a sensational cross over dribble and rose up from just inside the arc to sink the game-winning jumper as time expired.
Endicott's schedule has been one of the toughest around. The Gulls have been pitted against some of the best competition in New England, including four unbeaten clubs - Keene State, Hamilton, Amherst and WPI. The Gulls also handed Gordon its first loss of the season Tuesday night. And although Endicott came up on the wrong end of the score Thursday, the experience of playing New England's finest is sure to payoff down the stretch.
Flynn finished with six points for the Engineers, who got a game-high 24 points from Antoine Coleman (Everett, MA/Everett) and 13 points from sharpshooter Ryan Cain (Webster, MA/St. John's Shrewsbury).
Endicott enjoyed a 41-29 halftime advantage, shooting 52 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point land. But the hosts managed just 19 points over the final 20 minutes while turning the ball over 13 times (19 in the game).
Meanwhile WPI was busy shooting 51 percent in the second half (40 percent in the game). Coleman kept the visitors in the game in the first half, netting 15 of his 24 in the frame while Cain added nine in the first.
Senior Zach Ellis (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) led the Gulls with 16 points, going 6-for-10 from the field (4-for-6 from beyond the arc) and recorded 14 points in a first half dominated by the hosts. Ellis was 5-for-6 in the first 20 minutes of action while junior forward Nemanja Marinkovic (Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro/Second Baptist School) added 11 points and nine boards. Although outsized inside, Marinkovic owned the low post.
Gary Corbett (Danbury, CT/Danbury) had another stellar night as well. The sophomore forward had six points and two assists in 13 minutes of action and is proving to be a valuable player off the bench for first-year head coach Chris Millette.
EC rounds out its first-half schedule Saturday at Wheaton while the Engineers travel to Roger Williams Saturday.