Mixed Weekend For Endicott Athletics: Men’s Hockey Wins Over Western New England 8-3 / Men’s Basketball Falls at Nichols 67-64

BEVERLY – The first-seeded Endicott men’s ice hockey team downed eighth-seeded Western New England University (WNEU), 8-3, in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday evening at Raymond J. Bourque Arena.

With the win, No. 7/9 nationally ranked Endicott (21-3-2) will host sixth-seeded Johnson & Wales University next Wednesday at 7 PM in the CCC Tournament semifinals. WNEU’s season comes to a close at 8-16-2 overall.

The Golden Bears struck first just 1:48 into the contest when CJ Totillo (Brooklyn, N.Y.) deflected Connor Graham’s (Norfolk, Mass.) shot from the point into the back of the net, but after that it was all Endicott as the Gulls scored six unanswered goals to put the game away.

Jack Musil (Hull, England) knotted the game up at 1-1 with his 11th goal of the season on a drive from the right wing at the 8:43 mark of the period, while Thomas Daniels (St. Louis, Mo.) gave the Gulls a 2-1 advantage when he put home Bump Lisk‘s (Lawrenceville, N.J.) rebound into the net near the right post at 14:39.

During Endicott’s 6-0 spurt, the Gulls also received tallies from John Carricato (Ridge, N.Y.), Daniels, Cam Bleck (Lake Forest, Ill.), and Tommy Besinger (Milton, Mass.), in that order, with the final goal from Besinger coming at 13:52 of the second.

Both teams went on to exchange two goals each over the remainder of the contest.

Kevin Aldridge (Birmingham, Mich.) made 45 saves in the win (18-3-2), while Kevin Gollmer (Flourtown, Pa.) had 47 saves in the loss (8-13-2).

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

Endicott is 5-0-0 in the all-time series.
The Gulls have outscored the Golden Bears 33-6 during those matchups.
Prior to today’s game, Endicott had shut out WNEU in their last three meetings.
Eight goals is a new playoff record for the Gulls.
The previous high was four vs. Wentworth in a 4-0 win over the Leopards on March 2, 2016 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast semifinals.
Bleck and Musil scored the remaining two goals for the Gulls at 11:16 and 13:51 of the third period.
Logan Day‘s (Seminole, Fla.) three assists also established a new single-game playoff record.

FOR THE FOES

Matt O’Dea (Orlando Park, Ill.) and Josh Twietmeyer (Weston, Fla.) had the other two goals for WNEU. O’Dea scored his in the second period at 18:46, while Twietmeyer notched his tally at 15:17 of the third.
Gollmer has made 40 saves or more in back-to-back games for the Golden Bears.
Totillo led the team in points with two (one goal, one assist).

WHAT’S NEXT

No. 7/9 nationally ranked Endicott (21-3-2) will host sixth-seeded Johnson & Wales University next Wednesday at 7 PM in the CCC Tournament semifinals. WNEU’s season comes to a close at 8-16-2 overall.

DUDLEY, Mass. — It was a battle of two of the best teams in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), as the No. 2 seed Endicott men’s basketball team fell just short, 67-64, Saturday afternoon inside the Nichols Athletic Center against the top-seeded Bison.

In a game filled with raw emotion fueled by a raucous crowd, Nichols went on to celebrate their first-ever CCC Championship. When the final buzzer sounded, the Gulls were left feeling the heartbreak of the “could have, should have, would have” moments lingering on the floor in a shot at raising their third-straight banner.

Four years. Three championship appearances in a row. Two conference titles.

They gave it their all.

While there was no trifecta today for Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.), Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.), Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.), Stephen Basden (Lynn, Mass.), Chris Lipscomb (West Springfield, Mass.), and Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.), one game won’t define the legacy these six seniors leave behind.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The first half was littered with runs, as Nichols raced out to a 13-2 lead and was up by as much as 12 with 8:30 to go in the opening stanza before the Gulls soared back to knot it at 15 apiece.

The Bison then responded with a 12-0 run to grab a 27-15 lead and took a 40-29 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Gulls opened the second half with a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to one, down 40-39, before Motroni evened the score at 48-all minutes later at 10:18.

Walker’s layup at the 7:44 mark then gave the Gulls their first lead of the game at 52-50—one they would extend to a seven-point spread with 1:41 remaining on Lipscomb’s trey.

Despite hitting just 7-of-25 from the field (5-of-19 from three), sophomore guard Marcos Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) did what the CCC Player of the Year does best. He sank three of his four treys on the day with under 5:27 left.

After the Gulls turned the ball over for a five-second violation at midcourt, Echevarria hit arguably his most important one with 13 ticks left to give the Bison a 65-64 edge greeted by an eruption from the boistrous Nichols’ crowd.

Echevarria then nailed a pair of clutch free throws in the waning seconds to lead the Bison to their first-ever CCC Championship in their fourth-straight year as the tournament’s No. 1 seed.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

Walker and Motroni each scored 16 points to pace the Gulls, while Lipscomb chipped in 10 points to join them in double figures.
Motroni earned his first double-double of the season (second career) as he grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, and Basden pulled down 10 boards to go with seven points.
This senior class is two twins shy of becoming the winningest group of Gulls to ever come through the Endicott men’s basketball program.

FOR THE FOES

Echevarria poured in a game-high 23 points for his 20th game this season scoring at least 20.
Freshman guard/ CCC Rookie of the Year DeAnte Bruton (New London, Conn.) dialed in for 12 points.
Senior forward Devin Stallings (Waterbury, Conn.) tied a team-high with 10 rebounds and added nine points.
Nichols freshman Jerome Cunningham (Westbury, N.Y.) recorded his fifth-straight double-double as he filled the stat sheet with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks.
The Bison extended their win streak to 11 straight games.
Nichols scored 23 points off 12 Gulls’ turnovers.
The Bison appeared in their second CCC Championship in the past four years and first since the 2013-14 season when they lost, 69-65, to Gordon.

NOTES

Today’s contest marked the 28th all-time meeting between the programs and third this season.
The two-time defending conference champion Gulls still hold a 17-11 edge in the series with the teams splitting this year’s regular-season contests.
Endicott won, 93-80, on January 14 before Bruton poured in a game-high 38 points in a 92-87 win for the Bison on February 8.
Endicott has won four of the past seven meetings.
Last postseason, Endicott and Nichols met in the CCC Semifinals with the Gulls prevailing, 82-80.
If Endicott had been victorious, it would’ve been the fourth time in CCC history one team has won three men’s basketball championships in a row.

WHAT’S NEXT

The continuation of the Gulls’ (22-6) season rides on the prospect of entering the 2017 NCAA DIII Men’s Basketball Tournament as an at-large bid. The entire field of pairings will be announced on Monday, February 27 during the annual NCAA Selection Show at 12:30 p.m. EST. Nichols (23-5) earned the conference’s automatic qualifier into the Big Dance as this season’s CCC Champion. $website.include(“rich-footer”)