BEVERLY, Mass. (February 10, 2024)  - The Western New England men's basketball team saw a back-and-forth Commonwealth Coast Conference game on the road not fall their way, as the hosting Gulls from Endicott got 35 points of production from Jalen Echevarria to power their way past WNE by a final score of 85-78.

Records:

• Western New England: 17-6, 12-3 CCC
• Endicott College: 15-8, 9-5 CCC

How it Happened:

A quick 9-0 lead would fall Western New England's way after Tim Restall scored two buckets inside the paint while Mike Resnick dialed up a three while also getting a fastbreak layup, giving Western New England the early edge. The Golden Bears saw their nine-point lead not last very long as Endicott would go on a 13-4 run, led by their senior Jalen Echevarria, who gave the Gulls the 14-13 lead with 10:23 to play in the opening half. The back-and-forth opening 20 minutes would see Endicott's lead grow to six points with 6:40 to play when Max Grenert hit three free throws, giving the Gulls their largest lead of the afternoon. Western New England would take EC's lead down to one with 2:25 to play after Jake Harrison scored on a layup. Western New England would give up 14 first-half points to Endicott's Echevarria, who scored the final hoop in the first half to give Endicott a 34-31 lead at the break. Western New England shot just 35% from the field, hitting just three of 16 three-point field goals. The Gulls had their senior leader record half the team's field goals in the opening half, shooting 41% as a squad.

The Golden Bears opened the half with the first four points to take a one-point lead after Gavin Greene and Jake Harrison got to the paint and scored with the right hand. No team would take greater than a one-point lead through the first five minutes of the half until WNE's Melvin Kolenovic converted two free throws to give WNE a three-point lead with 14:36 remaining in the second half. WNE's lead would rise to five when Cody Palazzesi scored with the left, giving the Golden Bears a 47-42 lead. Echevarria would score the next five points in the game to quickly erase WNE's five-point lead in a span of 30 seconds. Again, the teams would go back and forth, with the two teams starting to connect from distance. Andrew Byfield dropped back-to-back triples, though interrupted by Cam Homsey's three for Endicott, as Western New England took a 60-54 lead with 8:12 to play. Liam Dunfee would tie the game at 65 with 4:36, as Western New England would see their lead slip quickly. After four straight free throws made by the Golden Bears by Tim Restall, scoring would quiet, with WNE leading by four points in the late stages of the half. Endicott would capitalize on a three, while Jake Harrison would hit one of two free throws to give Western New England a two-point lead. Endicott would see Elijah Kinney hit a layup with 32 seconds remaining, which would be the final bucket of the second half as the two teams would go into overtime, tied at 72. WNE shot a much better 52% from the field in the second half, though they drained just two of eight threes.

Western New England would struggle in the final five minutes of the game, though they got an early layup from Tim Restall that evened the score in OT at 74. The Gulls would use home court to their advantage when Kinney raised the roof with a dunk to give Endicott a three-point lead with 2:55 left. Cody Palazzesi connected on two free throws that dropped EC's lead to one point, though Endicott would take over from there, scoring eight of the final ten points to steal a victory from Western New England, taking down the Golden Bears for the second straight regular season game at their home court.

Inside the Lines: 

• Western New England's early 9-0 lead would not be enough in the game to fight off Endicott, who shot 45% from the field and 4/5 from the field in the OT session.
• Tim Restall (20), Gavin Green (13), Jake Harrison (12), and Mike Resnick (10) all recorded double-digit points in the loss for the Golden Bears.
• WNE shot 5/28 from three on Saturday afternoon, a tick below 18%.
• Jalen Echevarria scored 35 of Endicott's 85 points on Saturday to lead EC to the win.
• WNE outrebounded Endicott 48-36 in the loss, though the EC bench outscored WNE 29-17.
• WNE falls to 4-12 in Beverly in the last 18 games.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England will play their final regular season home game on Wednesday, February 14, at 7:30 p.m., welcoming the University of Hartford to Springfield for the first time.