BEVERLY, Mass. – Sophomore Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) scored a game-high 17 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists to help the Endicott College men's basketball team to a 63-54 win over Wentworth in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at MacDnald Gymnasium.
Winners of two straight, the Gulls improve to 11-5 overall and 7-2 in CCC play while the Leopards fall to 6-10 (4-5).
Sophomore Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) gave the hosts a 2-0 lead before senior John-Michael Fragnoli (Schenectady, N.Y.) evened the score with a basket of his own 1:10 later. However, just 11 seconds later, senior John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) gave Endicott the lead for good when he hit a three-pointer.
Henault's trifecta was followed by a three-pointer from sophomore Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) and a Motroni jumper to give the Gulls a 10-2 lead. Wentworth ended the run with a three-pointer from senior Ray Bessette (Dedham, Maine) with 15:10 left.
An 11-2 Endicott run extended the lead to 21-6 with just under 11:00 left in the half and the Gulls led by 15 after a sophomore Stephen Basden (Lynn, Mass.) jumper with 7:27 left.
Wentworth used a 10-0 run to trim the lead to five with 3:37 to play as Fragnoli scored four points and freshman Ben Kizel (Short Hills, N.J.) and senior Nico Donato (Glastonbury, Conn.) each drained a shot from behind the arc. Endicott responded and increased its lead to 32-20 with 2:03 left and would lead 37-23 at the break.
Endicott led by as many as 18 early in the second half and held a 52-34 lead with 11:02 left in the contest. Freshman Jason Ganley (Northbridge, Mass.) and junior Ian Therriault (Auburn, Maine) hit back-to-back shots which started a 6-2 spurt. However, senior Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) responded with a three to push the lead back to 17. Motroni would hit a layup to give the hosts their largest lead of the night, 61-42, with 5:22 to play. Motroni's basket would be the last field goal of the night for the Gulls, who were held to just a pair of free throws over the remainder of the contest.
An 8-0 run, capped off by a Therriault layup, cut the lead to 11 with 2:49 left. However, neither team would score for the next 2:31 when Donato's layup cut the lead to nine with 18 ticks left. Motroni hit two free throws and Fragnoli made a layup to account for the final score.
Walker scored 13 points and dished out six assists in the win while Makris had a dozen points.
Fragnoli led all scorers with 16 points and grabbed five rebounds. Donato had 10 points and five rebounds, and Therriault finished with eight rebounds. Wentworth held a 40-32 rebounding advantage.
Both teams continue CCC play on Thursday as Wentworth hosts Curry and Endicott hosts Eastern Nazarene.
