Men’s Basketball Drops 80-67 Decision at Endicott Saturday

BEVERLY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team suffered an 80-67 setback at Endicott Saturday afternoon, halting a five-game winning-streak.

The Lions progress to 9-8 on the year and 6-4 in the Commonwealth Coast Conference with the result. The Gulls improve to 13-4 overall and remain atop the league standings with a mark of 8-2.

Christian Lynch (Alpharetta, Ga.) netted a team-high 20 points while adding nine rebounds and six assists. Corey Doran (Fairfield, Calif.) posted 18 points while Patrick Michel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Josh Rice (Hanson, Mass.) both chipped in with nine points.

The visitors grabbed an early four-point edge with 15:49 remaining in the first half on a tip-in by Max Stevenson (Victoria, Australia).

The home team jumped ahead 13-11 as Keith Brown drained his third trey of the contest with 13:18 left to play in the opening frame.

Eastern Nazarene responded with a 9-0 run to claim a 20-13 lead with 8:06 on the clock.

The Lions held a 34-30 advantage at the halftime break.

The Gulls started the second half with a string of nine consecutive points to seize a 39-34 lead with 18:44 left to play.

Endicott stretched the gap to double-digits with 16:30 remaining on a layup by Stephen Basden, 46-36.

Eastern Nazarene cut the deficit to 57-56 with less than nine minutes to go as Lynch completed an old-fashioned three-point play from the charity stripe.

The hosts regained a double-figure lead on a Chris Lipscomb dunk with 2:29 left to play, 73-62.

Endicott outscored Eastern Nazarene 7-5 in the final two minutes of the contest en route to holding its position atop the conference standings.

The Lions finished with a field-goal percentage of 44.4% to go with 28.6% shooting from the perimeter. The Gulls shot 45.2% from the floor and 39.1% from long distance.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene returns home to battle Gordon January 25 in a midweek matchup.