Red-Hot Endicott Powers by Salem State 93-71 at Home

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's basketball team won their third straight game on Saturday afternoon as a hot-shooting Gulls squad captured a 93-71 victory over non-conference, North Shore rival Salem State. Endicott sported a 56% field-goal percentage in the game and saw senior forward Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) score a game-high 27 points with seven boards and two blocks to lead his team's high-octane offensive attack.

Makris is now just 39 points away from becoming the 12^th player in Endicott men's basketball history to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for his career. On Saturday, his 27 points came courtesy of 11-of-14 shooting from the floor including a career-best five three-pointers on seven attempts. Makris also improved his career numbers against one his favorite non-conference opponents, besting his 26-point effort in the 2013 meeting between the Gulls and Vikings. In four career games against Salem State, Makris has averaged 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds with seven assists, six blocks, and four steals.

Endicott (5-2) also benefited from forward Daquan Sampson's (Germantown, Md.) second double-double of the season and fifth of his career as the sophomore scored 15 points and hauled in 10 boards with two blocks, a steal, and an assist. Fellow sophomore Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) also reached double figures, scoring 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and a perfect 5-of-5 at the free throw line.

With the team knocking down shots, there were plenty of assists to go around as sophomore guard Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) and senior forward Tell White (New Castle, N.H.) set career-highs with seven and six assists, respectively, while sophomore guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) matched his personal best with six dimes of his own. Motroni also grabbed six defensive rebounds to go along with four points, Sawyer registered a steal, and White stuffed the stat sheet with six points and four caroms.

Salem State (5-4) struggled mightily offensively in the first half, making just 23% of their attempts overall and just 1-of-10 three-point bids, and found themselves facing a 42-23 halftime deficit. The team's lone bright spot in the first half was freshman forward Drew Healy (Lowell, Mass.) who came off the bench to score 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Vikings leading scorer, senior guard Bryan Ortiz (Salem, Mass.) went 0-6 from the floor in the opening stanza and ended up with seven points by game's end.

Vikings senior guard Nicholas Grassa (Lynn, Mass.) poured it on the second half with 10 points and six assists and finished the game with 14 points, eight assists, and two rebounds. Sophomore big man Marcus Faison (Cambridge, Mass.) netted a team-high 15 points on an efficient 6-of-11 from the floor including a perfect 2-of-2 beyond the arc. Faison also had five rebounds, a block, and a steal.

Endicott took their 19-point halftime lead and built it to as large as 28 points with 4:42 remaining in the game. At that point Gulls head coach Kevin Bettencourt, whose squad is shooting 44% as a team, scoring 81.9 points per game, but allowing opponents just 36.5% efficient against his defense and 65.3 points per game, turned to his reserves. Junior guard Matt Ellis (Westford, Mass.) made his return to the hard court and played for the first time since February 16^th, 2013 after overcoming injury. Freshman guard Nate Alexander (Buxton, Maine) scored four points in the game's final minutes while senior forward Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) had two points, four rebounds, a block, and a steal in his six minutes on the court.

Endicott is now 3-4 all-time against Salem State with wins in three of their last four meetings. The Gulls will take their 5-2 record into a two-week holiday break and when they return they will travel to the Trinity Holiday Invitational on December 30^th-31^st. The Gulls take on Berkeley (N.Y.) on day one of the tournament for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. Salem State hosts their annual Holiday Classic on December 29^th-30^th and will first play Farleigh Dickinson at Florham.