Men’s Basketball Knocks Off Endicott, 91-79

QUINCY, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College men's basketball team claimed its first victory of the season Tuesday evening, topping Endicott 91-79 at the Lahue Physical Education Center.

The Lions climb to 1-3 on the season with the win while the Gulls dip to 2-2 overall.

Garrett Crandell (Bristol, Tenn.) tallied a team-high 25 points while adding seven rebounds on the night. Ricky Shearman (Acworth, Ga.) flirted with a triple-double as he finished with 24 points, eight boards, and eight assists. Noah Cheney (Bend, Ore.) contributed with 11 points and five rebounds off the bench. Christian Garcia (Miami, Fla.) and Jacob Waldroop (Newland, N.C.) both notched eight points.

The hosts strung together an 8-0 run to establish a 24-18 lead with 9:20 left to play in the first frame.

Eastern Nazarene widened the gap to 35-28 with 4:43 remaining in the opening half as Crandell splashed a three-pointer.

The Lions closed out the first half with a 12-3 run to own a 48-36 advantage at the halftime intermission.

Shearman poured in a team-best 15 points while grabbing five boards and dishing out three assists in the first half while Crandell chipped in 11 points.

Eastern Nazarene shot 55.6% from the floor and drained 3-of-10 three-point attempts in the opening frame. Endicott posted a 37.9% field-goal percentage at the half while shooting 27.8% from beyond the arc.

The home side extended its lead to 15 points, 56-41, on a steal-and-score by Garcia with 17:45 on the clock.

The visitors cut the deficit to 79-77 with 2:03 left to play as Keith Brown canned a trey from the right corner.

The Lions capped off the game with a 12-2 run down the stretch to secure their first victory of the season.

Eastern Nazarene concluded the contest with a field-goal percentage of 53.3% to go with a 23.5% success rate from three-point territory. The Gulls shot 41.9% from the floor on the night and 27% from behind the arc.

Jalen Echevarria paced Endicott with 20 points while Brown finished with 15 and Billy Arsenault added 13 points and eight assists.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will face No. 16 nationally-ranked WPI Friday, November 22 at the Paula Titus Memorial Tournament hosted by UMass-Boston.