Feb. 22, 2006
BEVERLY, MA - The Endicott men's and women's basketball teams set the tone for the Commonwealth Coast Conference Playoffs Tuesday night with a doubleheader sweep of Curry College. The two teams advanced to the semifinal round of the CCCC Playoffs together for the second straight season.
Playoff basketball is second nature to senior forward Matt George (Dover, NH/Dover), who has appeared in the finals each of his first seasons in an Endicott uniform. Endicott has won back-to-back titles and Tuesday night George's 30 points powered the Gulls to a semifinal date with Wentworth Institute of Technology (Thursday night at MacDonald Gymnasium).
Endicott, the No. 2 seed in the North, drove past Curry, 67-49, on the strength of George's season-best 30 points on 7-of-17 shooting, including 6-of-13 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe. The only player to hit double digits, George also dished out three assists while Nemanja Marinkovic (Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro/Second Baptist School, TX) pulled down nine rebounds and Zach Ellis (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) dished out six assists.
The women, seeded second in the North, have never won a CCC title, but in the opening round of the playoffs the Gulls blended youth and experience to reach the semifinals. Freshman Nicole Young (Rockland, MA/Cardinal Spellman) dropped in a game-high 22 points (7-of-10 from the field) and grabbed 15 rebounds, seven of which were offensive, to help Endicott down No. 3 South Curry, 79-62.
Senior co-captains Liz Yuneman (Middle Village, NY/St. Francis Prep) and Jodi Brown (Coventry, RI/Coventry) contributed 21 and 19 points, respectively. The Gulls will travel to South top seed Nichols Thursday night (7).