No. 14 Men's Basketball Erases 17-Point Deficit; Rallies Past Hartford, 79-72

BEVERLY, Mass. — The No. 14 nationally ranked Endicott men's basketball team completed a 17-point comeback against Hartford to pull off an epic 79-72 come-from-behind Conference of New England (CNE) victory in Saturday evening's barn burner from inside MacDonald Gymnasium.

Marcus Montagnino (Gloucester, Mass.) led the Gulls with 29 points (8-17 FG, 3-4 3PT, 10-12 FT), six rebounds, four steals, and three assists in nearly 39 minutes of play. Twenty-three of his 29 points came in the second half to fuel the comeback.

Elijah Kinney (Nashville, Tenn.) notched his 14th double-double of the season with his 25 points (10-20 FG, 1-4 3PT, 4-6 FT) and 15 rebounds. He also swatted away two shots and dished out two assists in the strong all-around effort.

Andrew Mitchell (Roxbury, Mass.) and Joey DaSilva (Windham, N.H.) provided a clutch eight points and seven points, respectively, from off the bench in the win, while Jeff Hill (Lynn, Mass.) and Caden Sullivan (Franklin, Mass.) rounded out the scoring with five points apiece.

Hartford started hot early, as it got off to a 34-17 start in the opening 12:33 of play.

To close the half, Endicott broke loose for a 16-8 run to get within 10 (42-33) at halftime. Kinney and Montagnino highlighted the stretch with seven and four points, respectively.

Out of the break, the Hawks initially padded their lead. They pulled in front by a game-high 17 points (56-39) with just 13:25 remaining.

However, the Gulls finally came to life in the following 5:45, as they rode a 16-5 spurt all the way back to a two-possesion game (61-55). Some clutch shooting from DaSilva and Montagnino paired with Kinney's hard-nosed interior defense brought the Gulls back into the matchup.

After a series of trips to the charity stripe, it remained a two-possession ballgame at 63-58 with 6:05 remaining. The Blue and Green forced a stop on Hartford's Kyle Winters (Corte Madera, Calif.), which had proven to be a tall task throughout the matchup. After the stop, Montagnino stepped up and knocked down a massive stepback triple from straightaway to bring it to 63-61.

Winters netted another midrange jumper on Hartford's next trip, but Mitchell responded with a three-pointer from the right wing to close the gap to just one point (65-64).

A Hartford score mixed with some Montagnino and Mitchell free throws brought the game to a 72-72 stalemate with just 1:02 remaining. 

The Gulls forced the Hawks into a travel to earn possession back, and after swinging the ball around the perimeter, Mitchell was left wide open at the top of the arc. He let one fly from three-point range, and drilled it to give the Gulls their first lead of the game with just 27 seconds remaining.

From there, the defense strapped together a few more stops, and some successful Endicott foul shooting solidified the wild win, 79-72.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott improves to 6-0 in the all-time series with Hartford.
• The Gulls extended their program-record winning streak to 16 games.
• Kinney's 14 double-doubles are T-4th most in Division III.
• Winters finished the contest with 41 points on 16-26 shooting (7-12 3PT, 2-2 FT).
• Endicott outscored Hartford 46-30 in the second half.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 14 Endicott (22-1, 14-0 CNE) heads to Suffolk on Tuesday for a 7:30 PM CNE nightcap with the Rams. Hartford (13-11, 7-8 CNE) visits the University of New England on Saturday, February 21st for a 3 PM CNE matchup. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

(Photo Credit - Cat Scarantino '26)