Men's Basketball Topped By Saint Joseph's (Me.), 97-78

STANDISH, Maine — The Endicott men's basketball team fell to Saint Joseph's (Maine), 97-78, on Saturday evening in a non-conference road matchup at the Harold Alfond Center.

AJ Forte (Peabody, Mass.) led the way with a career-high 21 points (8-14 FG, 5-9 3PT) in his 27 minutes from off the bench.

Elijah Kinney (Nashville, Tenn.) narrowly missed a double-double, as he posted 19 points (9-12 FG), eight rebounds, and three steals.

Drew Brown (Pelham, N.H.) and Sidney Hall (Worcester, Mass.) also chipped in with eight and seven points, respectively.

Trailing by five (21-16) at the 11 minute mark in the first half, the Gulls were unable to contain the Monks, who scrapped together a 9-2 run to push their lead to 12 (30-18) with nine minutes to play in the half.

Facing a 15-point deficit with 4:59 remaining, Forte and the Gulls exploded for a 13-0 run (4:39-2:27) to get back within a pair (39-37). The freshman guard personally accounted for 11 of the 13 points via a trio of threes and a layup in the stretch.

He and Brown would each drill one more triple to make it a 47-45 contest with about a minute left in the first, but the Monks drilled a triple of their own prior to the horn sounding to push the lead back to five at the break.

To open the second stanza, the Monks rode a 20-9 run over the first 8:57 of play to open up a comfortable 70-54 lead.

From there, the Gulls were unable to play catch up the rest of the way, and ended up falling by a final score of 97-78.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• This is just the second meeting all-time between the two programs.
• The Gulls took the first meeting last season by a score of 105-85.
• Endicott outscored St. Joe's in the paint, 40-38.
• Each team received a large boost from its bench (35 points for the Gulls, 34 for the Monks).
• St. Joe's dominated in second chance points, 24-7.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (5-5, 2-1 CNE) opens up CNE play with a trip to Wentworth on Saturday, January 4, 2025 in a 2 PM tipoff. St. Joe's (Me.) heads over to Bates on December 30 for a 6 PM contest. 

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(Photo Credit - Bradley Griffin '28)