Endicott Registers 83-64 Win over Western New England

Brancato & Sikorski pace Golden Bears with 15 points each

BEVERLY, Mass. (January 3, 2019) – The Western New England University men's basketball team fell to Endicott College, 83-64, on Thursday evening in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at MacDonald Gymnasium.

Top Performers
Freshman Antonio Brancato (Fairfield, Conn.) and sophomore Alex Sikorski (Rocky Hill, Conn.) paced the Golden Bears with 15 points each, while junior Mike McGuire (Garden City, N.Y.) added 12.

Endicott was led by junior guard Keith Brown (Pelham, N.H.), who scored a game-high 29 points to go with five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal.

Game Review
Western New England held an early 7-0 advantage before the Gulls surged ahead 11-9, taking their first lead on a pair of Matt McDevitt (Cumberland, Maine) free throws at the 14:13 mark.

The Gulls, who led 23-20 after Brancato sank a pair at the charity stripe with 9:22 left in the half, utilized a 9-2 run over the next 3+ minutes to establish their first double-digit cushion (32-22).

Western New England scored the next six points to get to within four (32-28), but Endicott closed out the period with a 12-2 run to establish a 14-point lead (44-30) at the break.

The Gulls held their largest advantage of the game (63-37) after Brown knocked down three consecutive triples early in the second half.

Western New England was able to get back into the contest, as the Golden Bears cut their deficit to single digits (68-59) following a made Brancato jumper with 6:56 to play.

Endicott ended Western New England's comeback hopes with a 15-0 run, however, to put the game out of reach for the visitors.

Notes
• Brancato is averaging 16 points per game over his last four contests.
• The Gulls shot 53.3 percent from the field in the first half and 47.6 percent overall, while the Golden Bears connected at a 37.3 percent clip.

Up Next
Western New England (3-9, 0-4 CCC) returns home to take on the University of New England on Saturday, while Endicott (9-3, 2-1 CCC) hosts Roger Williams.