March 2, 2004

Beverly, MA-After winning the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship game and posting an overall record of 23-4, the Endicott College men's basketball team earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Gulls last NCAA appearance was in 2000. Endicott hosts the winner of the NEWMAC conference, the Babson College Beavers, on Thursday at 7pm. The game will be broadcast live on D3hoops.com.

General admission tickets are \$5 for adults and \$3 for students with id's. Tickets are available for advance purchase at the Endicott Post Center today from 2-5:00, Wednesday from 9-5:00 and Thursday from 9-1:00. Ticket booth will re-open on the day of the game at 5:30. Babson students can buy tickets in advance from the Babson Athletic Department. For more ticket information, please call (978) 232-2305.

Endicott earned their automatic bid by defeating last year's CCC Champions, Colby-Sawyer College, 83-76 in double overtime. The Gulls overcame a 19 point deficit with only 12 minutes left in regulation, to tie the game 57-57, forcing the first overtime. Both teams battled back and forth during the five minutes, but neither team came out victorious, and a second overtime was needed. Senior Jeremy Currier (Hampstead, NH) scored 6 quick points in the overtime to give the Gulls a solid advantage and junior Josh Oxton (Center Harbor, NH) nailed his free throws to seal the win for the Gulls.

The Gulls are led by Currier, a 2nd Team All-Conference pick, and the CCC Rookie of the Year, freshman forward, Nemanja Marinkovic (Houston, TX). Currier who is averaging 15 points per game, scored his 1000th career point this year. Marinkovic is averaging 12.9, and 8.3 rebounds. In the CCC Championship game, Marinkovic scored a team high, 26 points, collecting 13 rebounds. Sophomore Matt George (Dover, NH) is contributing 11.3 points, 2.6 assists and 2.4 steals per game.

Posting an overall record of 20-7, Babson won the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament Championship, and heads to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years. Babson is led by senior co-captains Luke Weber (Highland Mills, NY) and Jeff Hines (Waltham, MA). Weber leads Babson in scoring with 13.8 points per game, and is tied for the team lead in rebounding with 4.2 boards per contest.

Babson and Endicott last met in the semifinals of last year's ECAC New England Tournament when the Beavers defeated the Gulls, 78-68. Babson went on to win the ECAC Championship.