Gulls down McDaniel in opening round of Merchant Marine Academy Holiday Tournament

KINGS POINT, N.Y. – Lachylan Magee tallied 19 points to lead three player in double figures and pace Endicott in a 73-62 non-conference men's basketball victory over McDaniel in the opening round of the Merchant Marine Academy Holiday Tournament on Sunday.

Evan Pupelis (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset netted 12 points to lead the Green Terror (4-6), who will play Vaughn in the consolation game on Monday. Game time is 4 p.m.

Lance Greene and Erik Callo added  17 and 14 points, respectively, for the Gulls (5-4), who meet up with the host Mariners in Monday's championship game.

Christopher Cowles (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) and Devon Lesniak (Westminster, Md./Winters Mill) added 11 points apiece for McDaniel.

Marcus Dyson (Scotch Plains, N.J./Union Catholic) hit a pair of free throws 1:06 into the game to give the Green Terror an early advantage before Chris Galbraith canned a jumper to knot the game just over a minute later.

Pupelis counted with a layup on McDaniel's next possession to spark a 6-0 burst that gave his team an 8-2 advantage with 16:16 to play in the first half.

Trailing 10-5 on a Pupelis jumper, Greene hit a jumper with 14:10 showing to ignite a 13-0 run that turned the five-point deficit into an eight-point lead just 3 minutes, 58 seconds later.

A Pupelis layup and Michael Jarboe (Monrovia, Md./Urbana) 3-pointer trimmed the deficit to 18-15 with 10:17 to play in the half but Endicott pushed the lead to as many as 11 before a pair of Woody Butler (Smithsburg, Md./Middletown) dunks helped trim the deficit to 36-30 at the break.

Keyed by four points from Callo, the Gulls tallied seven of the first eight points in the second half to make it a 43-31 game with 18:35 showing.

The first two career 3-pointers of freshman Josh Smith's (Cambridge, Mass./Chapel Hill-Chancy Hall) career bookended a 6-1 spurt that trimmed the hole to 49-44 with 12:36 to play but Endicott reeled off the game's next six tallies to push the lead back to 12 just 1:34 later.

The Green Terror would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.

Pupelis finished a rebound shy of his first career double-double.

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