BEVERLY, Mass. – Senior Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds to help the Endicott College men's basketball team pick up its third straight win with a 76-67 victory over Wentworth Institute of Technology in a Commonwealth Coast Conference contest at MacDonald Gymnasium.
With the win the Gulls improve to 9-2 overall and 4-0 in CCC play while the Leopards fall to 3-8 (1-3).
Endicott opened the game on an 11-4 run, which included scoring the first six points of the game. During the Gulls' run, freshman Matt Vartanian (Salem, N.H.) had all four of Wentworth's points.
After a junior Jason Ganley (Northbridge, Mass.) layup made it 11-6, Endicott used a 12-3 run – capped off by a senior Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) three pointer to take a 23-9 lead with 12:05 left in the half.
Wentworth answered with a 12-0 run and came within a pair (23-21) on a senior Dan DeVaux (three pointer with 8:03 left. During the run, junior Michael Boaheng (Worcester, Mass.) had six points while Ganley and DeVaux each drained shots from behind the arc.
After sophomore Vinny Clifford (Danvers, Mass.) extended the lead with a three pointer, Walker scored six straight Gull points. However, Vartanian also went on a hot streak during this stretch as he scored five points in a span of less than a minute.
The Gulls led by 10 (38-28) on a senior Stephen Basden (Lynn, Mass.) three-point play with 2:44 left and with 1:51 left in the half, junior Ben Kizel (Short Hills, N.J.) hit a jumper with ended a scoring drought of nearly four minutes. Endicott took a 42-32 lead into the locker room.
A 6-2 spurt to open the second half brought the Leopards to within six as DeVaux (four points) and Vartanian (two points) paced the offense. Walker hit a three to push the lead back to nine and Endicott led by as many as 11 before junior Sam Knollmeyer (Hampton, N.H.) hit one of two free throws and Ganley drained a three to make it 53-46 with 12:34 remaining.
From there Endicott went on a 9-1 run and took a 62-47 lead on a senior Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) layup. The Gulls led by as many as 21 with 5:49 remaining before Wentworth brought the final margin to single digits by ending the game on a 15-3 run, including scoring the game's final 11 points.
Walker was one of four Endicott players to score in double figures. Senior Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) added 12 points while Basden and freshman Keith Brown (Pelham, N.H.) scored 11 apiece.
DeVaux led all scorers with 17 points to go along with six rebounds as three of his teammates joined him in scoring double figures. Vartanian had 13 points and five rebounds, Boaheng netted a career-high 10 points, while Ganley finished with 10 points, six rebounds, and eight assists.
Wentworth hosts Western New England on Thursday night.
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