No. 14 Men's Basketball Outlasts Suffolk, 74-69

EAST BOSTON, Mass. — The No. 14 nationally ranked Endicott men's basketball team overcame a late push from Suffolk to win its 17th consecutive game by a score of 74-69 in Tuesday night's Conference of New England (CNE) battle from inside Smith Court.

Elijah Kinney (Nashville, Tenn.) picked up his 15th double-double of the season and provided some clutch scoring for the Gulls to close out the contest. He finished with 17 points (6-10 FG, 1-3 3PT, 4-5 FT), 11 rebounds, two blocks, two assists and a steal in 33 minutes of action.

Marcus Montagnino (Gloucester, Mass.) logged 17 points (7-12 FG, 1-4 3PT, 2-2 FT), dished out six assists, snagged three boards, and picked up two steals, while Caden Sullivan (Franklin, Mass.) rounded out the double-digit scoring performances with a 16-point (6-14 FG, 4-11 3PT), seven-rebound evening.

Cam Keliher (South Hampton, N.H.) filled out the stat sheet with his six points (2-3 FG, 2-2 3PT), five assists, three rebounds, and three pilfers.

After a slow offensive start from both sides, the score stood at 14-9 in favor of the hosts with 9:44 remaining in the first half.

From there, the Blue and Green's offense came to life. They escaped for a 13-4 run to grab hold of a four-point lead (22-18) with 6:14 to play in the stanza. Joey DaSilva (Windham, N.H.) ignited the spurt with two triples in that stretch.

Later, three-pointers from Keliher, Sullivan, and Max Grenert (Beverly, Mass.) contributed to the Gulls extending their lead to seven (31-24). They eventually headed into halftime with a 32-26 advantage.  

After the Gulls looked like they had a comfortable lead in the second half (56-45, 11:21 remaining), the Rams slowly crawled their way back into the contest. They eventually erased the deficit in full, evening the score at 64 with 3:47 left to play.

However, Kinney and Montagnino came up clutch for the Gulls down the stretch to secure a hard-fought 74-69 victory for the visiting Gulls. Kinney scored eight of Endicott's last 10 points and also secured the glass late to send the Gulls over the finish line.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott evened the all-time series, 8-8.
• The Gulls swept the Rams this season, as they won by a 69-44 score back on January 17.
• The Blue and Green extended their program record 17-game winning streak, which dates back to 11/22/25.
• The visitors outshot the hosts 11-5 from downtown.
• Kinney's 15 double-doubles this season place him T-4th nationally.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 14 Endicott (23-1, 15-0 CNE) welcomes Roger Williams to The Nest this Saturday for a 3 PM Senior Day matchup. Suffolk (14-10, 9-5 CNE) heads to Gordon on Saturday for a 3 PM CNE contest. 

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(Photo Credit - Kiera Mallett '28)