Statistics

BEVERLY, Mass. -- Endicott College got off to a 12-2 start and maintained control on the way to a 92-75 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball result against the University of New England at MacDonald Gymnasium on Tuesday night (Jan. 23).

The Gulls (12-6, 7-3 CCC) received a game-high 27 points out of Jalen Echevarria, 19 from Ty Vitko, and 14 off the fingers of Jeff Hill. The trio hit half of their three-point attempts and accounted for all but one of EC's 12 treys; the hosts had a 36-15 scoring advantage behind the arc.

Hill also contributed seven assists and four steals. Elijah Kinney led all players with 15 rebounds, to go with nine points, and reserve Liam Dunfee chipped in with 13 points.

Endicott shot 46 percent (33-of-72) in the match, while UNE connected at a 34 percent rate (25-for-73). The visitors held a slim edge on the glass (47-46).

Adrian Torres notched 20 points, eight boards, and five steals for the Nor'easters (5-13, 0-10). Jack Pyzynski supplied 19 points with seven caroms, and Adam Lux went for 10 points with seven rebounds. Kha Cao Ra James turned in nine points, 11 boards, and four steals, while Jayden Thornton added 13 points off the bench.

After the fast opening by the hosts, UNE did register the next seven (12-9), but by the 7:34 mark it was 27-12. Vitko increased his 1st-half total to 16 points as the gap nearly reached 20, however a buzzer-beating triple by Torres had the margin at 50-36 midway through the contest.

A three-pointer and a three-point play from Pyzynski sparked a mini spurt to trim the spread to 63-52 with 14:13 on the clock in the 2nd period, and the Nor'easters reduced to the difference to 10 on three occasions in the minutes that followed (65-55, 67-57, 69-59). But Endicott then used a 12-1 run, with eight by Echevarria, to put permanent distance between the squads with 7:40 to go (81-60). Echevarria had 19 following the intermission.

UNE is back on the road Saturday at Gordon College.