DUDLEY, Mass. – The fourth-seeded Endicott men's basketball team moved one step closer to defending its Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) title on Thursday night with a thrilling 82-80 semifinal round victory over first-seeded Nichols College.

Trailing 79-78 with 1:03 left in the game, Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) put home a two-handed dunk off a pass from Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) to give Endicott a slim 80-79 advantage at the 24-second mark.

Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) eventually followed with a pair of made free throws to push the gap to 82-79 with five seconds remaining, however the Bison were given a chance to tie the game at the other end moments later when Marcos Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) was fouled on his game-tying three-point bid from the right wing with 0.5-seconds left.

Echevarria buried his first-of-three free throws, but a timeout called by the Endicott bench resulted in a miss on the second attempt, which subsequently put Nichols in a position to miss on purpose on its final free throw shot. Before the Bison took their last free throw, Endicott's bench used another timeout to situate the Gulls defensively on the block, and it paid off as Sampson hauled in the rebound to lock up the win as time expired.

FIRST HALF

Down 32-29 with 4:07 remaining in the first half, Chris Lipscomb (West Springfield, Mass.) swished a three-pointer from the top of the key that ignited a 15-5 run for the Gulls, and an eventual 44-37 advantage at the break. Motroni also contributed five points during the 15-point spurt, while Walker canned a trey at 2:43 (37-33), and Sampson added a floater in the lane with 59-seconds to go (42-37). Lipscomb went on to cap the run with a layup with 47-seconds to play in the stanza.

Nichols built up a lead as large as eight points (23-15) nearly ten minutes into the contest due in large part to Gustave Koumare's (Harlem, N.Y.) red-hot shooting. Koumare  went 4-for-5 from the field, and 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, during the aforementioned stretch before finishing the half with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting (4-for-4 3PT, 1-for-2 FT).

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott led by as many as 19 points (71-52) with 10:49 left in the second half, before Nichols orchestrated a 20-1 run to even the score at 72-72 at the 4:12 mark.
• Koumare led the comeback effort with nine points, while Echevarria had five, Christian Horton (Rutland, Mass.) tallied four, and Irving Eggleston (East Lyme, Conn.) converted two free throws.
• With tonight's win, Endicott is 16-9 all-time and 6-6 on the road against Nichols dating back to the 1999-2000 season.
• The Gulls have won the last three playoff meetings versus Nichols.
• Endicott snapped Nichols' 15-game winning streak.

ENDICOTT HIGHLIGHTS

• Motroni paced the Gulls with 23 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, 3-of-6 from long range, and an 8-for-11 showing at the free throw line.
• Motroni, who has scored in double-figures in all 26 games he has appeared in this season, also contributed seven rebounds and two assists to tonight's victory.
• Sampson notched his 11th double-double of the season by recording 15 points and bringing down 10 rebounds.
• Sampson entered tonight's game ranked fourth in the CCC in double-doubles.
• Walker moved into fourth place on the Endicott all-time scoring list with 13 points versus Nichols tonight.
• Walker, who surpassed current Endicott assistant coach Lance Greene '13 on the list, now has 1, 274 career points to his credit during his career with the program.
• Lipscomb notched 12 points, five rebounds, two steals, and two assists in the win.
• Endicott outscored Nichols, 36-26, in the paint, and 14-6 off turnovers.
• The Gulls' bench also outscored the Bison, 17-4.
• Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) and Taylor Rioux (Ivoryton, Conn.) tied for the team-high in points off the bench with six apiece.

FOR THE FOES

• Koumare tallied a career-high 38 points, including his 1,000th career point, on 14-for-21 shooting (5-for-7 3PT, 2-for-2 FT) to go along with six rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
• Echevarria contributed 18 points and five rebounds, while Eggleston had 10 points, three rebounds, and a pair of assists and steals.
• Nichols tied its program record for wins this season with 23.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (17-10) will play Roger Williams (12-15) in the CCC championship at home this Saturday at 2 p.m. Nichols (23-4) now awaits a potential at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, which will be announced this Sunday night. 

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