Endicott dominates NEC, 100-56
Feb. 20, 2008
BEVERLY, Mass. - The Endicott College men's basketball team posted 100 points on Wednesday night, as the Gulls celebrated Senior Night with a dominating 44-point win over New England College inside the MacDonald Gymnasium in Beverly, Massachusetts.
The win pushes Endicott to 7-5 in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (11-13 overall) and should solidify its spot in the upcoming conference tournament. New England College falls to 7-17 overall and 2-10 in TCCC play.
It was all Endicott from the opening tip as the Blue and Green opened the contest with a 24-7 run to quickly race ahead by 17. The three Endicott seniors were instrumental in the early momentum as Gary Corbett (Danbury, Conn./Danbury), Todd Burton (Lynn, Mass./St. Mary's/Canterbury) and Cameron Twiss (Reading, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) led the Gulls with a smothering inside-outside attack. Corbett was lights-out from behind the arc early on, as he converted on his first three attempts from 3-point land. Burton scored nine points in the first half, while Twiss hauled in seven rebounds in the opening 20 minutes. Endicott entered the locker room with a 56-26 halftime lead.
The Gulls, who shot nearly 63% in the first half (23-of-37), kept the momentum going into the second frame. Twiss got Endicott rolling as he buried a 3-ball from straight away as the shot clock wound down, putting the Gulls up 64-34. Two possessions later, Justin Martin (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) took an entry pass from Graham Whitelaw (Kennebunk, Maine/Cheverus) and used a nice post move to put EC up 31. The Martin lay-in sparked an 18-5 run that lasted nearly seven minutes. The Endicott bench played a big role in the win, as the EC reserves scored 55 points in the 100-56 win.
New England College was led by Kingsley Onyechi's (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Patrick Holung (Hartford, Conn./Bloomfield) had 10 points and nine rebounds in the loss. The Gulls' defense held The Commonwealth Coast Conference's leading scorer Ryan Jaziri (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) to seven points. Jaziri has averaged 24.1 points per game.
Endicott was paced by a game-high 16 points from Tom Connor (Kittery, Maine/Traip Academy). Gary Corbett finished with 15 points while shooting 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Todd Burton posted 14 points and three assists in the win. Cameron Twiss came just one point shy of a double-double, as he had nine points and 12 rebounds for the Gulls.
Endicott (11-13, 7-5 TCCC) returns to action on Saturday as they travel to take on the conference's top-team in Curry College. NEC closes out its 2007-2008 campaign against defending league champion Wentworth in Boston, Mass. on Saturday.