Vikings Fall to Northshore Rival

Jose Rodriguez '24, Staff Writer | Media & Communications 

BEVERLY, Mass.- Ty Vikto (Dover, N.H.) and Jalen Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) combined to score 36 points to lead Endicott College to a resounding 82-66 victory over their Northshore rival Salem State. The win for the Gulls improved their record to 6-3, while the Vikings dropped to 4-4 in the season. 

Prior to the game Coach Harvey expressed the significance of the Northshore rival. "I love it, Kevin Bettencourt is a Northshore legend of his own, from his playing days down at Peabody to his amazing career at Bucknell… So it is always fun to come out here [at Beverly] to play. It is two teams playing good basketball right now, so it is going to be a competitive game for sure."  While Salem State freshman Omri Merryman (Lynn, Mass.) added, "It means a lot and I've been excited all week to play against them as I know a few people on their team, so it is a personal game and just been excited." 

Jaden Castillo (Lawrence, Mass.) led the scoring for Salem State with 17 points, while LJ Hicks (Gardner, Mass.) contributed four assists and Liam Byrne (Melrose, Mass.)  grabbed nine rebounds. On the other end, Vitko and  Echevarria scored 18 points each for the Gulls, and Parker McLaren (Newburyport, Mass.) led the charge with nine rebounds while netting six three-pointers. Mark Barrett (Brookline, Mass.), Vitko, and Jeff Hill (Lynn, Mass.) all had four assists on the night.

After the game Castillo spoke about his 17 points performance "Honestly I feel it wasn't enough, but we have another quick turned around on Saturday so hopefully I do better on Saturday."  

Salem State started strong with Hicks scoring the first two buckets of the game. However, Endicott bounced back out of a timeout with a 5-0 run, thanks to Barett who was responsible for all five points during the run. As the game progressed, Castillo managed to tie the game at 10 with a three-pointer before Endicott answered with an 8-0 run of their own, which would put the Vikings down by five points with the score at 20-15. A steal from Burke Kennedy (Brooklyn, N.Y.) would reignite the Vikings for a stint before Endicott went on a 12-2 run to put the Vikings in a 13-point (44-31) deficit to head into the break.

The Vikings were looking to bounce back in the second half, but unfortunately the Gulls started the half with a 9-2 run. Salem State found themselves down 58-41 when the Gulls went on another run to extend their lead to 21 points (64-43). Josh Coffey (Norton, Mass.) gave the Vikings some life as he spearheaded a 9-0 run, but they still found themselves down by more than 20 points (69-47) with ten minutes remaining in the game.

Despite a valiant effort, Salem State was unable to overcome their deficit as Endicott went on a 12-3 run, with Vikto scoring eight of the 12 points, to secure the 82-66 victory for the Gulls.

After the game Coach Harvey expressed how the team can improve for Saturday's game. "It is a quick turnaround as we have Brandeis on Saturday at 3 o'clock. So the guys are going to get off their feet tonight and we will go into practice tomorrow to get prepared for Brandeis. We have to come out better and I know we are 2-0 at home and 2-4 on the road, so it is nice to have some home cooking for the last three [before break] we just got to play better on both ends."  

The Vikings will be looking to bounce back this Saturday when they face the Judges of Brandeis University at Twohig Gymnasium. Game time is at 3:00 p.m.