No. 21 Endicott Edges Men’s Basketball, 69-44

BEVERLY, Mass. – Suffolk men's basketball suffered a 69-44 setback to No. 21 Endicott in Conference of New England (CNE) action at MacDonald Gymnasium Saturday afternoon. Despite a one-point margin at halftime, the Gulls over controlled the second stanza to snap the Rams' three-game win streak.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 44 | No. 21 Endicott 69
RECORDS: Suffolk (9-7, 5-2 CNE) | No. 21 Endicott (15-1, 7-0 CNE)  

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Out of the fourth tie, a 10-all deadlock, Abdiel Zapata converted a fastbreak layup to send Suffolk in front, 12-10 at the 10:38 mark of the first frame. The Rams remained in front, 22-16, which forced the Gulls into a timeout with 4:55 to go before halftime. 
• After Nick Verdile sunk a triple, Endicott found its grove and scored 10 straight to flip the script in its favor, 26-25, at the break. 
• A back-and-forth affair consumed the first five minutes of the second half as the playing field leveled at 35. From there, the Gulls went on a 15-4 run to take an 11-point advantage at the midway point. 
• Suffolk was outscored 19-4 the rest of the way to take the 59-44 setback. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Greg Keane led Suffolk's scorers with 11 points on a 5-for-8 showing from the field to go along with two boards and three swats. 
• Connor Strickland registered eight points behind a 4-for-7 effort from the floor. His stat line featured four handouts, two boards and one block. 
• Jordan Morganstein chipped in nine points, two rebounds, and two steals off the bench. 
• Zapata finished with five points, two boards and one dime. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Morganstein and Zapata had personal-best in all categories. 
• Zapata had personal-best in all categories. 
• Matt Amarante tallied a career-high two rebounds.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk looks to bounce back Tuesday, Jan. 20 when it entertains Nichols at 7:30 p.m. at Larry E. and Michael S. Smith Court.