Gulls spoil Hanlon's homecoming

NEWPORT, R.I. - Playing in his first home game since last February, Salve Regina University junior guard Barrett Hanlon (Hopkinton, Mass.) scored a game-high 26 points, but visiting Endicott College (7-4; 3-1 CCC) featured four players in double-figure scoring to run away in the second half with an 83-63 victory in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball action.

Senior guard John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) opened the scoring with a short jumper in the paint and a 2-0 Endicott lead. Salve Regina freshman Rodney Morton (Malden Mass.) swished his first 3-point attempt and classmate Adam Quinlan (E. Walpole, Mass.) added a layup as the Seahawks took an early lead.

Following a layup for Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) and a free throw from Henault that tied the score, Salve Regina went on a 12-4 run for its largest lead of the game, eight points (17-9 at 14:11). Hanlon scored nine of the 12 Seahawk points during the run.

The Seahawks led for a 14-minute stretch until Andre Makris' (Southbury, Conn.) 3-pointer found the bottom of the net at 3:15 for a 28-26 Gulls' advantage. The final three minutes of the first period went back-and-forth as the opening 20 minutes featured seven lead changes and three ties, including the score at halftime (36-36).

A Makris jumper opened the second half scoring and the Gulls were soon on a 13-2 run. Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.), who only had two points at halftime, scored eight during the run including a pair of 3-pointers. Endicott had its first double-digit lead after Walker's layup at 16:34.

Salve Regina cut the deficit to nine on three occasions, including after a Bryce Boggs (Hyde Park, Mass.) layup (49-40) and a Brenden Fowler (No. Attleboro, Mass.) jumper (58-49).

But Henault, Walker, and Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) continued to go the Endicott favorite weapon, the 3-pointer, to expand the lead to as many as 22 points (81-59).

Boggs finished with 16 points (second highest total in the game), but Henault, Walker, and Motroni each had 15 points apiece and Sampson added 13 points for the visitors. Makris had a game-high 10 rebounds, all on the defensive side. Scott St. Lawrence (Litchfield, N.H.) led Salve Regina with nine boards.

Salve Regina (3-8; 0-4 CCC) seeks its first conference victory of the season when it travels to University of New England on Thursday. Endicott hosts Roger Williams in Beverly, Mass., on Thursday.