Men's Basketball Edges Gordon, 89-84

WENHAM, Mass. — The Endicott men's basketball team handled crosstown rival Gordon, 89-84, in Saturday afternoon's Conference of New England (CNE) matchup at the Bennett Center.

Elijah Kinney (Nashville, Tenn.) led the way with a 20-point (8-17 FG, 4-5 FT), eight-rebound, three-assist, and three-steal performance.

Cam Keliher (South Hampton, N.H.) provided 11 points (4-8 FG, 2-5 3PT), three rebounds, three assists, and five steals, while Marcus Montagnino (Gloucester, Mass.) poured in 15 points (6-12 FG, 3-3 FT), six boards, four dimes, a steal, and a rejection.

Parker McLaren (Newburyport, Mass.) and AJ Forte (Peabody, Mass.) each chipped in with double-digit scoring performances. McLaren posted a season-high 14 points (5-10 FG) and six boards, while Forte dropped 12 points (5-10 FG, 2-6 3PT) and hauled down five rebounds.

Endicott grabbed hold of a big lead early thanks to a 9-2 run right out of the gate. Forte drilled a three and made a nice cut to the rim for an easy layup to highlight the spurt.

A few minutes later, Keliher drained a triple off of Joey DaSilva's (Windham, N.H.) feed to put the Gulls up 24-10 with 12:22 to play in the half.

The Gulls eventually headed into halftime with a 50-30 lead after McLaren and Kinney pushed the lead to 20 with a triple and a mid-range jumper prior to the buzzer.

In the second, the Fighting Scots got themselves back into the ballgame. They opened on a 25-10 run in the first six minutes of the frame to cut Endicott's lead to just five (60-55). 

The Gulls responded with back-to-back buckets from Montagnino to reclaim a 10-point advantage, but the Scots continued to persist.

They cut Endicott's lead back to just five (85-80) with under two minutes remaining, and then inched even closer after a layup with just 15 seconds remaining (87-84). 

However, the Blue and Green strung together a few free throws to close out the road win, 89-84.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott moves to 34-23 in the all-time series with Gordon.
• Max Grenert (Beverly, Mass.) recorded nine points from off the bench, tying his season high. His other nine-point effort was against Gordon earlier this season.
• The Gulls led wire-to-wire in the win.
• Endicott converted 19 points off of Gordon turnovers, while Gordon turned in just nine.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (11-6, 8-2 CNE) welcomes Curry to The Nest on Tuesday in a 7:30 PM CNE matchup. Gordon (7-10, 3-7 CNE) heads to Nichols on Tuesday for another 7:30 PM CNE contest. 

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(Photo Credit - Bradley Griffin '28)