BEVERLY, Mass. – Sophomore Marcos Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) made 16-of-17 from the free throw line and tied his career-high with 37 points in Nichols College's 93-80 loss to Endicott College Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball action at MacDonald Gymnasium.
 
Echevarria's 16 free throws is the second-highest single game total in program history. Freshman DeAnte Bruton (New London, Conn.) was the only other Bison in double-figures as he netted 21 points while classmate Jerome Cunningham (Westbury, N.Y.) threw up eight points and nine rebounds before fouling out.
 
Senior Chris Lipscomb (West Springfield, Mass.) led four Endicott student-athletes in double figures with 18 points (9-of-11 FG) to go along with eight boards. Senior Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) dropped in 15 points while senior Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) and freshman Keith Brown (Pelham, N.H.) chipped in with 12 points each.
 
The Bison shot 38 percent from the field (9-of-29 3-pointers) and made 25 of their 31 attempts from the charity stripe (81 percent). They were outrebounded 43-33. The Gulls dominated the paint, outscoring Nichols 52-24, and received 34 points from their bench, compared to four for NC.
 
Endicott led by as many as 23 points in the first half before settling into a 52-35 halftime lead. Echevarria led everyone with 22 points – including four 3-pointers – while Lipscomb paced the Gulls with 10 points. Endicott shot 58 percent in the opening stanza (22-of-38) and outscored Nichols 30-10 down low.
 
Nichols climbed to within 11 points following a triple from freshman Tyler Dion (Barre, Mass.) at 13:19 of the second half, however the Gulls answered with an 11-2 run to open up a 20-point advantage (75-55) less than three minutes later. Nichols could not get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
 
All-Time Series
Today's contest marked the 26th all-time meeting between Endicott College and Nichols College. The win moved the Gulls to 17-9 against the Bison, and they have won four of the last five meetings.
 
Next Games
Nichols (11-4, 6-2, 1-7 CCC) – Tuesday, January 17 vs Salve Regina, 5:30 p.m.
Endicott (12-3, 7-1 CCC) – Tuesday, January 17 @ Roger Williams, 7:30 p.m.