Gulls Advance to Fourth Straight CCC Title
Feb. 23, 2006
BEVERLY, MA - Endicott College, seeded second in the North Division, secured a place in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Final for the fourth consecutive season with a 74-60 win over Wentworth Thursday night at MacDonald Gymnasium.
The Gulls will take on No. 3 North seed Colby-Sawyer Saturday night (7) at MacDonald Gymnasium in the CCC Final. The game will mark the third time in the last four years Endicott and the Chargers will meet in the CCC Final. Endicott will be shooting for its third straight CCC title. CSC last won the conference title in the 2002-2003 campaign.
The Endicott women made it an all Endicott-Colby-Sawyer final as the Gulls' will travel to Colby-Sawyer in final on the women's side.
Senior Matt George (Dover, NH/Dover) has been on fire for Endicott (18-9) in the last four games. He poured in a game-high 19 points and is averaging 23.3 points in the last four contests. The CCC Player of Week also dished out three assists and grabbed four rebounds as well and had great support from junior Nemanja Marinkovic (Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro/Second Baptist School, TX) and senior co-captain Zach Ellis (Westford, MA/Westford Academy), who scored 16 and nine respectively. Marinkovic also pulled down nine rebounds.
The trio powered the hosts in the first half in front of a raucous crowd. Endicott shot 72 percent from the floor in the first half (57.5 in the game) to grab a 49-31 lead at intermission. The Leopards managed just 33.3 percent shooting in the opening stanza, but Sherrad Prezzie-Blue (Norwalk, CT/McMahon) kept the visitors within striking distance, pouring in 12 of his team-high 17 points.
The lead ballooned to as many as 30 points at the midway point of second half on an EC 11-2 run sparked by George, Gary Corbett (Danbury, CT/Danbury) and Joey Burgos (Lawrence, MA). Corbett, who dropped in eight points in the first half, finished with 10 points - three points shy of career best output - on 5-of-6 from the free throw line and 2-of-2 from the field. Burgos dropped in six points while starters Mike Sullivan (Marshfield, MA/Marshfield) and Todd Burton (Lynn, MA/St. Mary's) each knocked in five points. Sullivan also had eight rebounds and two blocks.
Frankie Hall (Boston, MA/Boston English) scored 13 points for Wentworth, which also got 11 points from Ed Bolton (Silver Springs, MD/Paint Branch). Todd Doyle (Mystic, CT/Fitch) added six points while Bryan Gaine (Braintree, MA/Braintree) and Jason DeCosta (Cambridge, MA/Cambridge Ridge & Latin) each scored four for the Leopards.