Men's Basketball Erases Early Deficit, Downs MIT 71-62 In Home Opener

BEVERLY, Mass. — The Endicott men's basketball team pulled away from MIT, 71-62, to complete Wednesday evening's 15-point come-from-behind home opener win inside MacDonald Gymnasium.

Marcus Montagnino (Gloucester, Mass.) led all scorers with 24 points (7-12 FG, 10-12 FT), 11 rebounds (nine defensive, two offensive), and five assists on the night. 

Elijah Kinney (Nashville, Tenn.) narrowly missed his third consecutive double-double, as he scored sixteen points (6-10 FG, 4-4 FT), collected nine rebounds (six defensive, three offensive), turned away two shots, and picked up a steal in his 32 minutes of action. 

Caden Sullivan (Franklin, Mass.) rounded out the double-digit scoring with his 10-point, four-rebound (one defensive, three offensive) performance. 

In the first half, the Engineers were red-hot right out of the gate. They opened on a 15-0 run before Montagnino finally drove to the basket to get the Gulls on the scoreboard.

After the Montagnino layup, a Kinney baseline jumper, another Montagnino paint score, and a triple from AJ Forte (Peabody, Mass.) put the Gulls right back into the mix (15-9, 11:17).

The two traded baskets throughout the remainder of the half. With just 12 seconds remaining in the first, a tough finish at the rim from Sullivan made it a 34-28 ball game, but the Engineers pushed their lead back to eight via a turnaround jumper at the buzzer to conclude the first half (36-28).

In the second half, MIT regained an early 11-point advantage (45-34) with 17:14 remaining, but the Blue and Green strapped together a dominant run to take control of the matchup.

Sullivan ignited the spurt with a gritty and-one finish. Kinney then sunk two free-throws before Matt Boen (Mansfield, Mass.) converted back-to-back driving layups, and all of the sudden, the Engineers' lead vanished (45-43, 13:03 remaining). 

The Engineers put an end to the 9-0 run with a layup inside, but two deep balls by Forte and a mid-range jumper from Montagnino gave the Gulls their first lead of the night at 48-47 (11:13 remaining).

Another Forte triple and back-to-back layups from Kinney and Montagnino gave the Gulls some cushion room at 55-48.

The Blue and Green held strong down the stretch thanks to some stellar defensive efforts (rejections from Kinney and Sullivan) to continue piling on late.

After the Engineers pulled back within one (60-59; 3:01 to play), the Blue and Green completed their comeback with a dominant closing performance, stringing together an 11-3 run to win by a score of 71-62.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• With tonight's win, the all-time series is tied up at five apiece.
• Endicott has won three of the last four matchups in the series.
• The Gulls shot 48.4% from the field in the second half as opposed to their 29.6% in the opening stanza.
• Forte chipped in the only nine bench points of the game for the Blue and Green.
• Lowest scoring output for the Engineers since 2/15/25 against No. 13 WPI.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (3-0) hosts No. 4 Tufts on Sunday for a 1 PM non-conference contest. MIT (1-1) welcomes Rhode Island College to its campus on Saturday for a 1 PM non-conference matchup. 

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

(Photo Credit - Jake Alonge '28)