BEVERLY, Mass. – Visiting Curry overcame an 18-point first-half deficit then rolled past Endicott, 88-68. With the win, the Colonels clinched the top seed in next week’s Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament.

After building the 18-point first-half cushion against the Colonels (17-7, 14-3 CCC), Endicott (9-15, 4-13 CCC) fell flat against a pair of double-double performances by Curry senior guard Sedale Jones (Pittsfield, Mass.) and junior forward A.J. Stephens (Stamford, Conn.).  Jones, already the league's second-leading scorer, dropped 29 points and hauled in 12 boards while tallying three assists, three steals, and a block.  Stephens finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds for his double-double.

Jones and Stephens combined for 10 of Curry's 19 offensive rebounds as the Colonels totaled a rebounding edge of 48-29 in the road victory.

Endicott was paced offensively by sophomore guard John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) who scored 18 points on 8-of-15 from the floor.

Although the Gulls got double-digit games out of junior Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia), whose 12-point effort brought him to within 23 points of 1,000 for his career, and 11 points off the bench by junior Bennett Knowlton (Shrewsbury, Mass.), Endicott struggled to contain a Curry offense that shot 54.3% from the floor in the second half to erase a six-point halftime deficit.

In the first half, Endicott made 47.1% of its shots and saw Knowlton drain three three-pointers off the bench to build a 37-19 with 5:58 to go in the opening half.  Sophomore forwards Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) and Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) were also factors with six points and four rebounds apiece with Makris adding three assists and two blocked shots.

Over the final 5:58 of the first half, however, Curry used a balanced scoring attack from Stephens and Jones as well as junior guard Lambros Papalambros (Quincy, Mass.) and sophomore guard Matt Russell (South Portland, Maine) to climb back into the game.  Papalambros and Russell netted 10 and nine points, respectively, in the first half.

In the second half, Jones and Stephens took over the game with sophomore guard Antonio Jones (Boston, Mass.) adding nine points in 14 second-period minutes.  Jones netted 17 of his 29 points on 7-of-12 shooting while Stephens connected on 4-of-7 shots with 5-of-6 makes at the free throw line.

Endicott plays its final game of the season on Saturday, February 16 at home against Eastern Nazarene starting at 3:00 p.m.  Curry returns home on Saturday to close out the regular season against Wentworth before seeding for the CCC Tournament is officially released. (Game recap courtesy of Endicott Sports Information)