Endicott gives up second half lead to Western New England; fall 83-74

Talk about Endicott Men's Basketball on Twitter     Tweet \#GoGulls

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's basketball held a single-digit lead for most of the second half, but Western New England rallied behind a 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists from senior guard Andre Shaw (New York, N.Y.) to take the lead and earn an 83-74 victory over the Gulls at MacDonald Gymnasium. 
 
Endicott (12-8, 7-6 CCC) has lost four of their last five league games and will next host Eastern Nazarene on Monday, February 6^th at 5:30 pm with five games remaining in the regular season schedule. 
 
Western New England (7-13, 4-10 CCC) got their first over a CCC opponent since January 25^th and will play a non-conference game against Springfield on Monday at 7:00 pm before wrapping up the remainder of the league schedule. 
 
Gulls freshman forward Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) totaled 18 points, nine rebounds, four of which were on the offensive glass, three assists and two blocks.  Makris recorded played a team-high 38 minutes and had his 13^th game with double-digit points.
 
Western New England's leading scorer was junior guard Damon Alston (New Britain, Conn.) who scored a game-high 21 points on 6-of-13 from the floor and 8-of-9 at the free throw line. 
 
Behind 12 points and six rebounds from Makris the Gulls earned a 41-36 halftime advantage.  Makris capped off the Endicott scoring in the opening period with a powering dunk with an assist to fellow big man Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) but as time expired, Shaw drained a three-pointer to keep Western New England within five points.
 
Endicott led by as many as 12 points at with 6:17 remaining in the half following a three-point make by senior forward Aaron Karkow (Uncasville, Conn.).  Freshman guard John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) had seven points in the half and both Kneece and sophomore guard Tyler Burkhart (Cromwell, Conn.) each chipped in five points apiece. 
 
Alston led the Golden Bears with 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting including a three-pointer in the half.  The visitors shot 50.0% (4-of-8) from beyond the arc and 80.0% (8-of-10) from the free throw line.  Shaw added nine points, five boards and two assists in the opening stanza. 
 
In the second half, Endicott slowly build their lead up to eight points at 58-50 after a layup by junior guard Lance Greene (Dorchester, Mass.) at the 11:46 mark.  Greene came on strong in the second half, scoring 11 of his 14 points in the period, and finished the game with six rebounds and three assists. 
 
The Golden Bears trimmed the Endicott lead over the next four and a half minutes until they gained their first second half lead at 7:19 with a bucket by sophomore Daniel Minto (West Hempstead, N.Y.).  Greene quickly gave the Gulls back the lead on another layup, but free throws down the other end by Alston put Western New England back on top with 6:43 to go. 
 
For the remainder of the game, Endicott made just 2-of-11 attempts from the floor while Western New England was 4-of-8 while converting 7-of-8 free throw attempts down the stretch. 
Minto and sophomore forward Dennis Rinaldi (Harrison, N.Y.) each hit double figures for the Golden Bears with 12 and 10 points, respectively.  Sophomore Ryan Mickiewicz (East Longmeadow, Mass.) dished out four assists while both Minto and Shaw each tied with Endicott's Makris for a game-high nine caroms.
 
Gulls sophomore Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia) had 10 points, four rebounds and two assists and Kneece netted seven points with five boards in just nine game minutes.