SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Endicott men's basketball had a glimmer of hope towards hosting a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Quarterfinal game next Tuesday, needing a win on Saturday and a Salve Regina loss, and despite taking care of Saturday opponent Western New England 69-60 the Gulls will have to travel for the first round of the conference playoffs.
Endicott (17-8, 11-7) got 20 points off the bench from freshman guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) and double-figure games from three starters as the Gulls completed the season sweep over Western New England. The Gulls, however, will have to travel to Salve Regina on Tuesday, February 25th for their CCC Quarterfinal as Seahawks defeated Curry in overtime to secure the four-seed. Tuesday's quarterfinal will tip-off at 8:00 pm in Salve Regina's Rodgers Recreation Center.
The Gulls split their 2013-14 regular season meetings with Salve Regina, beating the Seahawks 87-76 at home back on January 7th before dropping an overtime game in Newport 80-74. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs was February 25th, 2012 in the CCC Championship game when Endicott handed Salve Regina a 90-66 loss on their own court. Since then, however, the Seahawks have won three out of the past four games including two at home.
In Saturday's win over the Golden Bears, Endicott took a 40-27 halftime advantage and pushed the lead to as high as 20 points on two separate occasions (53-33 at 14:06, 64-44 at 6:10) but Western New England managed to rally back to cut the lead down single digits with 2:16 remaining.
With a 65-56 lead, Endicott leaned on Walker who scored the team's final four points on a layup to make it 67-56 with 1:43 on the clock and singular free throws with 0:31 and 0:17 on the clock to help put the game away. Western New England outscored Endicott in the second half thanks to a 12-point effort from senior Ryan Mickiewicz (East Longmeadow, Mass.). Mickiewicz finished with 19 points, second only to senior guard Nick DeFeo (Southington, Conn.) who poured in a game-high 21 points on Western New England's Senior Day.
For the Gulls, junior forward Andrew Makris (Southbury, Conn.) was near perfect from the field by making 6-of-7 shots including both three-point attempts as he scored 16 points, his best effort since a 16-point game against Roger Williams back on February 8th. Junior guard John Henault (Lunenburg, Mass.) and graduate student guard Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia) added 14 and 10 points, respectively, in the win.
Walker and Makris also led the team in rebounding with seven and six caroms apiece while junior forward Tell White (New Castle, N.H.) hauled in five boards while scoring five points and dishing two assists. Gulls senior guard Greg Jacques (Dorchester, Mass.) totaled four dimes for the victors.
Endicott shot 51.1% from the field as a team, 63.6% (7-of-11) from three-point range, but just 55.2% at the free throw line on 29 attempts.
The rest of the CCC Tournament bracket can be found below. With a win on the road, the Gulls will play into either the top-seed Nichols (20-5, 16-2) or the #8 seed Western New England (7-17, 5-13).
2013-14 CCC MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
All times subject to change in the event of a men's/women's doubleheader
Quarterfinals • Tuesday, February 25
#8 Western New England (7-17, 5-13) at #1 Nichols (20-5, 16-2), 7:00 p.m.
#7 Wentworth (11-14, 8-10) at #2 Eastern Nazarene (19-5, 13-5), 7:00 p.m.
#6 Roger Williams (10-15, 9-9) at #3 Gordon (14-10, 12-6), 7:00 p.m.
#5 Endicott (17-8, 11-7) at #4 Salve Regina (16-9, 11-7), 8:00 p.m.
Semifinals • Thursday, February 27
#1/8 winner vs. #4/5 winner, 7:00 p.m. (at higher seed)
#2/7 winner vs. #3/6 winner, 7:00 p.m. (at higher seed)
Championship Game • Saturday, March 1
Semifinal Winners, 2:00 p.m. (at higher seed)