2016 CCC Men's Basketball Championship Preview: No. 4 Endicott vs. No. 6 Roger Williams

2016 CCC Men's Basketball Pairings Release  | 2016 CCC Men's Basketball Quarterfinals | 2016 CCC Men's Basketball Semifinals

Interactive Tournament Bracket

BEVERLY, Mass. - The fourth-seeded Endicott men's basketball team will look to defend its 2014-15 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) title on Saturday, February 27 in the CCC Championship at 2:00 p.m. vs. sixth-seeded Roger Williams University inside MacDonald Gymnasium.

In CCC Semifinal action on Thursday night, the Gulls (17-10 overall) defeated top-seeded Nichols, 82-80, to advance to the CCC Championship for the second season in a row and will compete to raise their third banner in the past five years. In the other CCC Semifinal, Roger Williams (12-15) bested the University of New England, 75-58, in Bristol, R.I.

PREVIOUS MATCHUPS: The Gulls and Hawks met twice in the regular season, as Endicott swept the season series with Roger Williams with victories on Jan. 7, 2016 (64-61) and on Feb. 6, 2016 (65-51) in Bristol, R.I. Endicott is 25-7 all-time and 16-4 at home against the Hawks dating back to the 1994 season.

PLAYOFF HISTORY: Endicott and Roger Williams will meet in postseason play for the seventh time in program history and second time in the conference championship. The Gulls are 6-0 against the Hawks in the CCC Tournament, including a 5-0 record on the home hardwood.

POSTSEASON HISTORY: The Gulls have made the CCC Tournament in 14 seasons since joining the conference in 1999, with appearances in a conference championship in nine of 22 seasons overall*. Endicott is 7-1 in title games and has made it to the first round of the NCAA Tournament six times. In 2014-15, the Gulls captured the program's sixth CCC title with a 90-60 win over Wentworth to hoist their second trophy in the last four years and seventh overall. The Gulls have won back-to-back titles twice so far in the program's history (1999-2000) and (2004-2005-2006). Second-year head coach Kevin Bettencourt has led the Gulls to a 40-16 overall record in his tenure and the team is hungry to repeat as CCC Champions. *includes 1998-99 GNAC Championship and the current 2015-16 appearance.

ENDICOTT (17-10) | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS: The Gulls are led in scoring by All-CCC First Team junior guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.), who currently ranks fourth all-time on the program's scoring leader list with 1,274 career points. Walker surpassed current assistant coach Lance Greene's '13 mark of 1,268 in the team's CCC Semifinals win over Nichols on Feb. 25, 2016. All-CCC Second Team junior guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) has scored in double figures in all 26 games he has appeared in this season, with eight games scoring 20+ points, and currently has 975 career points. He would become the team's 14th men's basketball player to reach the 1,000 point milestone and fifth to do so as a junior. All-CCC Second Team junior forward Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) is fourth in the conference with 11 double-doubles. 

ROGER WILLIAMS (12-15) | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS: The sixth-seeded Hawks earned their first berth to the CCC title game since 2008 with a 75-58 win over the seventh-seeded University of New England in the CCC Semifinals on Thursday after defeating third-seeded Eastern Nazarene 68-67 in the CCC Quarterfinals on Tuesday. The Hawks are 0-2 in conference championship games in recent history with losses to Curry, 83-66, in 2008 and to Endicott, 71-59, in 2005. Roger Williams is led by freshman guard Austin Coene (Tyngsborough, Mass.) with a team-high 306 points, senior captain Trevor Fahmy (New Bedford, N.H.) with a team-best 201 rebounds (fourth in the conference with 8.4 rebounds per game) and a team-leading 43 blocks. All-CCC Third Team sophomore guard Nick Marini (Loudonville, N.Y.) ranks fourth in the conference in field goal percentage at 51.1 percent. The Hawks are coached by Mike Tully, Clark '91 in his 15th season with the program.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: The winner will receive the conference's automatic qualifying bid into the 2016 NCAA Tournament with the entire field of pairings announced on Monday, Feb. 29 during the NCAA Selection Show at 12:30 p.m., EST. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE GAME:

Live Stats/Video: http://ecgulls.com/sports/mbkb/2015-16/boxscores/20160227_tk3x.xml

2016 CCC MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

Quarterfinals • Tuesday, February 23

#1 Nichols 107, #8 Western New England 67
#7 University of New England 61, #2 Wentworth 58
#6 Roger Williams 68, #3 Eastern Nazarene 67
 #4 Endicott 86, #5 Gordon 76

 Semifinals • Thursday, February 25

#4 Endicott 82, #1 Nichols 80
#6 Roger Williams 75, #7 University of New England 58

 Championship Game • Saturday, February 27

#4 Endicott vs. #6 Roger Williams, 2:00 p.m.