BEVERLY, Mass. – For the second straight season, the Endicott men's basketball team will face Wentworth in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Semifinals after the Gulls handed Roger Williams a 77-64 season-ending quarterfinal defeat on Tuesday night at MacDonald Gymnasium.
Endicott will travel to face the #2 Wentworth Leopards on Thursday, February 23rd at 7:00 pm at Nelson Recreation Center in Boston. Endicott and Wentworth split their two meetings this season with each team winning at home. The most recent game, at Wentworth, saw the Leopards top Endicott by 15 points 80-65.
With the win Endicott improved to 18-8 overall, the most victories a Gulls team has had since the 2005-06 season when they went 19-10, won the CCC Championship and played in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Roger Williams (13-13) ended their bid for a conference championship with their second consecutive loss in the CCC Quarterfinals to Endicott.
Hosting their first home playoff since the 2006-07 season, the #3 seeded Gulls saw three of their starters score in double figures including junior guard Lance Greene (Dorchester, Mass.) who dropped a team-high 17 points with six rebounds, one assist and one steal. Sophomore guard Tyler Burkhart (Cromwell, Conn.) proved to be a different-maker in the second half off the bench with eight points, four assists and one steal overall.
Also scoring in double figures for the Blue and Green were guards Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia) and John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.). Magee was 4-of-7 shooting with 4-of-6 makes at the free throw line and also totaled seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Henault finished 5-of-8 from the floor with one of Endicott's two three-pointers while making both of his free throw attempts.
For the Hawks, senior center Pat Flanagan (Somerville, Mass.) netted a game-high 19 points on 9-of-17 from the floor while grabbing nine rebounds, four on the offensive glass, with two blocks. Freshman Ryan Palumbo (Warwick, R.I.) and junior Mike Engemann (Red Bank, N.J.) were factors in Roger Williams' comeback bid down in the second half as the two players finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Early in the first half, Roger Williams took advantage of a slow offensive start for the Gulls and went on a 7-1 run thanks in part to fast break layup opportunities by Palumbo and freshman guard Adam Cook (Manasquan, N.J.). The Gulls responded by tying the game up 11-11 and then again at 13-13 before taking the lead for good at the 6:00 minute mark of the first half. Endicott slowly built their lead to nine points going into half after Greene's jumper put the Gulls ahead 36-27 at the break.
Henault scored eight of his 13 points in the first half and freshman big man Matt Kneece (Shrewsbury, Mass.) provided quality minutes off the bench, contributing with six points, three rebounds, an assist and a block. Senior forward Erik Callo (Southington, Conn.) dished out three assists in the first half, including two backdoor passes to Henault under the hoop for lay ins.
Flanagan scored seven to lead the Hawks while Palumbo tallied three of his team-high four dimes in the opening stanza.
The Hawks started the second half as they did the first with a quick run to get back into the game. Roger Williams scored nine of the first 11 points to pull within two at 38-36 after a Palumbo jumper. After a steal and fast break layup by Henault followed by a floater in the lane by Burkhart put Endicott back up by eight, Roger Williams fought right back with back-to-back hoops of their own to get within four points at 44-40 with 13:50 to go.
Flanagan's jumper at the 13:08 mark kept the visitors within four points, but Endicott created separation with a 9-2 stretch that saw Burkhart takeover and sophomore Bennett Knowlton (Shrewsbury, Mass.) drain a clutch three. Up by 11 with just over 10 minutes to go, Endicott would go on to push their lead to as large as 15 points. Roger Williams would claw back to within single digits but over the final two minutes of the game, the Gulls got an old-fashion three by Greene and enough free throws down the stretch to fend off the Hawks, 77-64.
Roger Williams finished the game shooting 39.1% as a team including 18.8% from three-point range (3-of-16). The Gulls shot 44.6%, made 2-of-8 three-point attempts and were 17-of-26 (65.4%) at the free throw line.
The Blue and Green were also effective on the boards, outrebounding Roger Williams 49-36 for the game. Fifteen of those rebounds were on the offensive glass leading to 15 second chance points. Endicott also blocked nine shots as a team, three by Knowlton and two by freshman forward Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.).