Feb. 22, 2007
MILTON, MA - For the first time in the last five years the Endicott College Gulls men's basketball team will not appear in the Commonwealth Coast Conference Finals, as Curry College downed Endicott, 71-65 Thursday night in Milton, MA.
The Colonels got off to a hot start, as Jonathan Bowers (Kalamazoo, MI/Comstock) scored on back-to-back possessions to double up Endicott early on, 12-6. The Gulls would fire back as they rattled off five straight points including a Graham Whitelaw (Kennebunk, ME/Cheverus) three-ball, pulling the visitors back within one.
The two teams would exchange buckets for the next several minutes until Bowers and the Curry offense broke out to a 7-0 run, ending in a Toby Brittian (Providence, RI/Tabor Academy) lay-in on a feed from Marvin Lamarre (Hyde Park, MA/Dorchester), putting the Colonels up 10 with 7:10 left in the first half. Curry would lead by as many as 11 in the opening frame, as the home team cruised into the intermission with a 39-30 advantage.
CC would hold their 10 point lead until the midpoint of the second half, when Endicott erupted for a 10-0 run, capped off by two three-pointers from Ross Stewart (Palm Harbor, FL/East Lake High School) to even the game at 56-all.
The Colonels responded with an offensive flurry, as Tim Jones (Brookline, MA/Brookline) connected from behind the arc to put Curry back up seven, 63-56. The visitors refused to go quietly, as Nemanja Marinkovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Second Babtist, Houston, TX) corralled a misfired Whitelaw three, and picked up the hard offensive put back to bring the Gulls back within striking distance.
Following an Endicott timeout, Marinkovic struck again on the inside, cutting the home team's lead to two, 67-65. That's as close as Endicott would get, as Toby Brittian finished the Gulls season with an exclamation point dunk and then hustled the length of the floor to pick up a defensive block, icing the game for the Colonels.
Johnathan Bowers led the way for Curry, as the junior center scored 25 points and notched six blocks in the win. Classmate Tim Jones also had a strong game, as the junior guard dropped 22 points and dished out four assists for the Colonels. Endicott's Nemanja Marinkovic registered a double-double for the Gulls, as the senior forward scored 17 points and hauled in 11 rebounds in the loss. Sophomore Joey Burgos (Lawrence, MA/Lawrence) finished the night with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Curry College advances to the CCC Finals, where they will play host to the Wentworth Institute of Technology Leopards on Saturday night in Milton. WIT downed the CCC-North No. 1 seed Gordon College on Thursday. With the loss, Endicott will now await a possible ECAC Tournament bid. The announcement will be made Monday, February 26th. Fans are encouraged to log-on to www.ecgulls.com for a possible ECAC announcement.
