BEVERLY, Mass. - Sophomore forward Brad Thomka (Springfield, MA) came off the bench to score 14 points as the Western New England College men's basketball team posted a 65-51 victory over host Endicott Saturday afternoon (Jan. 17) at MacDonald Gymnasium.

The Golden Bears came through with a solid team effort in raising their record to 4-9 overall and 2-1 in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC). The Gull drop to 6-8 after losing their first conference contest in three outings.

Senior forward Kyle Fredette (Wallingford, VT) added 11 points and seven rebounds with four blocks, three assists, and a pair of steals.

Junior forward Mike Booker (Springfield, MA) added his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Golden Bears also received a big lift from junior point guard Rick Johnson (Springfield, MA) who contributed nine points, seven rebounds, and four assists. He played only four minutes in a loss at Roger Williams last Tuesday (Jan. 13) after suffering a cut near his eye.

Western New England College led 26-24 at halftime and the game remained close after the Gulls came back from an eight-point deficit to tie the score at 50-50 with 3:19 left.

Senior guard Matt Maynard (Paterson, NJ) then knocked down a key three-pointer and the Golden Bears' defense allowed only one point the rest of the way.

WNEC scored the last 12 points and made eight consecutive free throws in the final 57 seconds to seal the win.

Junior guard Graham Whitelaw (Kennebunk, ME) and freshmancenter Erik Callo (Southington, CT) each scored nine points for Endicott.

Western New England College finished shooting 38.9% from the field while Endicott had a tough day connecting on only 28.6% of its shots.