Endicott claims fourth straight victory in road test at UNE

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BEVERLY, Mass. – The Gulls men's basketball squad continued their winning ways on Thursday evening following a 62-48 win over the University of New England on the road.  The victory marked Endicott's sixth win in seven games since the start of 2012 and their fourth in-a-row over CCC opponents.

Endicott (11-4, 6-2 CCC) rallied behind 14 points and 17 rebounds by senior Erik Callo (Southington, Conn.) who registered his fourth double-double of the season.  The forward experienced success from the free throw line, hitting 6-of-7 attempts while knocking down four shots. 

Gulls freshman John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) chipped in 13 points thanks in part to a 3-of-5 shooting effort from beyond the three-point line and sophomore Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia) added 11 points, eight boards, and a game-high five assists.  Gulls point guard Lance Greene (Dorchester, Mass.) added four assists and seven rebounds in the win.

UNE struggled from the field, shooting 21.6% from the field including 9-of-48 (18.8%) from three-point range.  Nor'easters junior forward Alex Alsadi (Scottsdale, Ariz.) led his squad with nine points and 11 rebounds with four steals and two blocks on the defensive end.  Jarryd Rossignol (Caribou, Maine) and Charles Fenner III (Bronx, N.Y.) each contributed with nine and eight points off the bench, respectively.

The Gulls opened up the first half on an 11-6 run over the first 5:19 of the game with four of their starters tallying points and with Greene dishing out two assists in the early going.  

Both Endicott and UNE, however, struggled for the middle part of the half with both teams shooting under 30.0% from the floor.  After Endicott sophomore Bennett Knowlton (Shrewsbury, Mass.) drained a three-pointer at the 10:24 mark of the half, both the Gulls and the Nor'easters went scoreless for over five minutes.  Andre Makris' (Southbury, Conn.) jumper at 5:26 sparked the Gulls offense back into gear while UNE waited until 3:51 for Alex Alsadi's (Scottsdale, Ariz.) three-ball to fall. 

Down the stretch of the first half, Endicott's Magee found his stroke and scored five points while Henault's bucket as time expired made it 29-19 Endicott going into the break.  Magee led all players with nine first half points on 4-of-8 shooting with six rebounds. 

In the second half, Endicott maintained a double-digit lead for much of the half and led by as many as 15 points following free throws by Callo with 5:38 remaining.  Callo nearly had a double-double in the half alone with eight points and nine rebounds while Greene scored all seven of his points in 19 second half minutes.  Henault scored eight of his 13 points in the final period to make it 10 games this year in which the freshman has been in double figures. 

Endicott hosts CCC foe Eastern Nazarene on Saturday, January 21^st at 3:00 pm at MacDonald Gymnasium.  The Gulls have lost their last two meetings with the Lions but hold an 8-2 series advantage dating back to 2003.