LWN0319

MARCH 19, 2020
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Sports
Both Louis Ellis, left, and BillyArsenault renited at Endicott this year to lead the Gulls to a 19-8 season.
FILE PHOTOS
Former Pioneers fly high at Endicott
By Anne Marie Tobin
BEVERLY — Two former
Lynnfield High School basketball
standouts were reunited this
past winter season at Endicott
College.
Billy Arseneault, a business
marketing major, started
his career at Assumption, but
transferred to Endicott for his
sophomore year, where he enjoyed
a breakout season for the
Gulls. They finished the season
19-8 following a heartbreaking
76-75 loss to Nichols College
in the Commonwealth Coast
Conference championship
game.
“Billy has been a tremendous
addition to our team this
season,” said Endicott head
coach Kevin Bettencourt. “We
saw him play quite a bit while
we were recruiting Lou Ellis
and we were not able to get him
out of high school, but were
lucky he decided to transfer to
us a year later.”
Junior Louis Ellis was also
a key contributor to the Gulls
this season, overcoming several
nagging injuries that curtailed
his playing time his first two
years.
“Unfortunately, Louis has
dealt with a string of minor injuries
which has caused some
inconsistencies outside of his
control,” Bettencourt said. “But
Lou has had a positive impact
on the court when healthy this
season.”
Arseneault -- a 5-foot-11
point guard -- started 24 of the
Gulls’ 25 regular season games,
averaging 9.3 points and 29.5
minutes a game, ranking fourth
and second respectively on the
team. He was third on the team
in shooting percentage (48.4%)
and three-point percentage
(32.5%)
Bettencourt said Arseneault,
who had a team-best 2.7 assists-to-turnovers
ratio, is one
of the reasons why the Gulls are
ranked second in the nation in
that category (1.81).
“We were second in all of
Division III in assist-to-turnover
ratio and Billy was our
leader in that area,” Bettencourt
said. “He is a very unselfish
point guard whose ability to
break down the defense and
get the ball to the right places
has really set a great tone to our
offense.”
Arseneault had his 15 minutes
of fame in the Gulls’
come-from-behind 63-62 win
in the CCC semifinals over
No. 5 Wentworth. With less
than four seconds left in regulation,
Arseneault (11 points)
was the man of the hour, hitting
the game-winning bucket at the
buzzer.
At Lynnfield, Arseneault --
a two-time Cape Ann League
Player of the Year -- finished his
three-year varsity career with
1,022 points, becoming the seventh
Pioneer to hit the 1,000-
point mark. He averaged nearly
21 points and eight assists per
game his senior year.
Ellis -- a 6-foot-4 forward
--has struggled with injuries,
but has found a regular place
in the rotation this year. He
appeared in 23 regular season
games, averaging 10 minutes,
nearly four points and two rebounds
per game. A business
management major, he shot 46
percent from the floor and 37
percent from three-point land.
As a freshman, Ellis was a
part of a history-making game
in the Gulls’ 90-80 win over No.
7 Babson, the defending NCAA
Division III national champion.
That win was the first time the
Gulls had ever beaten an opponent
ranked No. 7 or higher in
program history.
“It has been a pleasure
watching Louis step up and
give us a boost off the bench
all season,” said Bettencourt.
“He was behind some upperclassmen
early on in his
career,but it was apparent in
the middle of last year that he
deserved to be getting some
minutes.
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“He has continued to improve
throughout his career and
has been a great teammate regardless
of his role.”
At Lynnfield, Ellis served as
captain of the boys basketball
and football teams. He finished
his football career tied for the
all-time lead in touchdown receptions
(14) and was the 2016
CAL Player of the Year. In basketball,
he averaged 16.7 points
and six rebounds per game
during his senior year. He was
a two-time CAL First Team allstar,
the Lynnfield Male Athlete
of the Year and the Most
Valuable Player in the Agganis
All-Star game.