BEVERLY, Mass. — The visiting Bridgewater State University men's basketball team knocked off No. 20 ranked Endicott College, 86-82, in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon at Endicott's MacDonald Gymnasium.
The Bears improve to 6-3 with thei third straight win, while the host Gulls fall to 6-2. Bridgewater has won six of its past eight games. The two teams were meeting for the first time since January 10, 2008 (a BSU win).
Junior forward Joseph Carty (Natick, Mass.) led the Bears with a team-high 19 points, while junior guard Rocky DeAndrade (Mansfield, Mass.) notched 17 points including 11 inn the second half. Senior guards Fawaz Mass (Taunton, Mass.) and Patrick McGuinness (New City, N.Y.) added 16 and 12 points, respectively, to round out the Bears' double-digit point producers.
Mass grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, while DeAndrade pulled down six boards and recorded a game-high five steals.
In a game that saw six ties and 15 lead changes, fans were treated to a back-and-forth affair all the way down to the end. Endicott maintained an 82-78 lead with 1:09 left in the game when senior guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) nailed a pair of free throws for the last of his game-high 25 points.
Senior guard Keyon Armstrong (Brockton, Mass.) responded for the Bears as he was fouled with 55 seconds left attempting a three-pointer. Armstrong converted all three at the charity stripe to cut the deficit to one, 82-81.
A Gulls' turnover with 15 seconds remaining proved costly as DeAndrade made the go-ahead layup and was fouled. DeAndrade would knock down the free throw and tacked on two more with three seconds left to play to snap Endicott's five-game win streak.
Endicott placed four student-athletes in double figures as Walker led the charge with his 25 points to go along with a game-high nine rebounds, and game-high seven assists.
Senior forward Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) chipped in a season-high 22 points, followed by senior guard Max Motroni's (West Warwick, R.I.) 13 points and senior forward Chris Lipscomb's (West Springfield, Mass.) 11 points.
Endicott's largest lead of the game was seven points with 4:41 left in the first half. The Gulls turned the ball over a season-high 19 times (including three with under 30 seconds remaining and a chance to take back the lead) and grabbed a season-low 31 rebounds.
The Gulls are off for the holiday break and will resume action in the Salem St. Holiday Classic against the University of Southern Maine (Dec. 29) and Regis (Dec. 30).
Bridgewater State is also off for the holiday break and will return to the hardwood in the Guilford College Holiday Classic against Greensboro (Dec. 29) and Guildford (Dec. 30).