Gulls Outlast UNE, 68-61, Behind Sampson's Ninth Double-Double

BIDDEFORD, Maine – The Endicott men's basketball team hung on for a 68-61 win at the University of New England in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action Wednesday night inside Harold Alfond Forum as junior forward Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) earned his ninth double-double of the season.

Endicott bounced out to a 19-9 lead with 8:38 remaining in the first twenty minutes of action as freshman guard Rob O'Brien (Rindge, N.H.) came off the bench to drain a three-pointer to give the Gulls what would be their largest lead of the game.

The Gulls took a 30-25 advantage into halftime as Sampson paced all student-athletes with eight points and seven rebounds in the first stanza.

UNE grabbed its first lead of the game, 31-30, at 18:39 on junior center Tom Nason's (Milton, N.H.) jumper as the team strung together an 11-0 run over the first five minutes of play to open the second half with a 36-30 edge before Endicott got a bucket from O'Brien with 14:41 to go.

The Gulls trailed for much of the second half until junior forward Chris Lipscomb (West Springfield, Mass.) nailed a three-pointer with 5:47 left in the game to knot the game at 50-50.

Junior guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) gave Endicott its first lead since halftime, banking a jump shot with 5:05 ticks left.

The Nor'easters managed to bring the score to within two, trailing 58-56, with 2:11 on the clock, but junior guard Max Motroni's (West Warwick, R.I.) dagger from downtown with 1:23 to play and team free throws in the waning seconds shut the door as Endicott won its third game in a row.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Sampson registered his ninth double-double of the season with a 15-point, 13-rebound performance today.
• The game featured one tie and two lead changes.
• UNE out-rebounded the Gulls, 40-39.
• Endicott earned the victory by scoring its second-lowest point total this season.(64 both times versus Roger Williams is the fewest.)
• The Gulls placed four student-athletes in double figures as Motroni (13), Walker (10) and O'Brien (10) joined Sampson (15).
• Walker is now tied with Andy Kirk '02 for eighth on the all-time scoring list in Endicott men's basketball program history with 1,201 career points. (Kirk reached the milestone in 102 games, while Walker did it in just 72 appearances.)
• Walker will be recognized on February 13 in pre-game ceremony for scoring his 1,000th career point earlier this season.

FOR THE FOES

• Sophomore guard Gavin Dibble (Greenport, N.Y.) led the way for the Nor'easters with 17 points.
• Senior guard Devin Thompson (Winthrop, Mass.) added 12 points.
• Sophomore guard Drew Coveney (Londonderry, N.H.) dished out a game-high seven assists.
• Four student-athletes (Dibble, Thompson, Coveney, and freshman forward Drew Patno (Lunenburg, Mass.)) each pulled down five rebounds.
• The Nor'easters' largest led of the game was six points (36-30) with 16:48 remaining in the game.

 NOTES

• Endicott is now 20-10 all-time against the Nor'easters, as the most recent meeting before today was an 88-62 win at home on Jan. 19, 2016 to complete the regular season series sweep.
• The Gulls have won six in a row in head-to-head matchups with UNE and are 10-6 all-time in road games dating back to the 1995 season.

WHAT'S NEXT

Both teams are back in action on Saturday, February 13 at 3:00 p.m. as the Gulls (13-9, 10-5 CCC) host Gordon College, while the University of New England (11-11, 6-9 CCC) travels to Bristol, R.I. to play Roger Williams. Endicott will be hosting a Youth Day on Saturday with a meet-and-greet session following the game. 

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