NCAA TOURNAMENT: Endicott at Catholic; First Round Preview

Posted: Mar 04, 2016

NCAA DIVISION III MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET

D3HOOPS.COM 2016 MEN'S NCAA TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL HOSTED BY CATHOLIC

Note: National Rankings from the D3Hoops.com Poll as of March 1, 2016

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's basketball team won the 2016 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) title last Saturday and tonight will take on host No. 22 Catholic University of America (CUA) in the first round of the 2016 NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. inside the Raymond A. DuFour Center in Washington, D.C.

Endicott (18-10) is making its second consecutive NCAA appearance and seventh overall after taking down Roger Williams University, 75-62, in the CCC Championship last Saturday. The Gulls will battle the Cardinals (22-5), who won the Landmark Conference title with an 83-80 victory over then No. 16 Susquehanna.

PREVIOUS MATCHUPS: The Gulls and Cardinals have met once before in the regular season, as Catholic won, 71-61, on Jan. 9, 2000 in Washington, D.C.

POSTSEASON HISTORY: After winning their third conference title in the past five years, the Gulls are making their seventh overall NCAA appearance (second consecutive) in program history and are hoping to advance to the Second Round for the first time ever. Second-year head coach Kevin Bettencourt, Bucknell '06 has led the Gulls to a 41-16 overall record in his tenure.

Date	Opponent	Result	Location	Coach
03/02/2000	at Hamilton	L, 85-68	N/A	James Cosgrove
03/04/2004	Babson	L, 66-56	Beverly, Mass.	Michael Plansky
03/03/2005	at Western Conn. St.	L, 73-62	N/A	Michael Plansky
03/03/2006	Tufts	L, 83-60	Cortland, N.Y.	Chris Millette
03/02/2012	Oswego St.	L, 72-71 (OT)	Oswego, N.Y.	Phil Rowe
03/06/2015	No. 17 Stockton	L, 81-61	Galloway, N.Y.	Kevin Bettencourt
03/04/2016	No. 22 Catholic	TBD	Washington, D.C.	Kevin Bettencourt

ENDICOTT (18-10) | ROSTER | 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 1,292 career points. All-CCC Second Team junior guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) has scored in double figures in all 27 games he has appeared in this season, with eight games scoring 20+ points, and currently has 988 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.

CATHOLIC (22-5) | ROSTER |SCHEDULE | STATISTICS: The Cardinals earned their second-consecutive berth to the NCAA Tournament and third in the past five years. Last season, the Cardinals defeated Alvernia, 87-80, in the First Round, before falling in the Second Round to Randolph-Macon, 78-65. Catholic won the program's only NCAA title in 2001. The Cardinals are on a 10-game winning streak, and are led by a pair of preseason All-Americans and All-Conference selections in senior guard Bryson Fonville (Greensboro, N.C.) and sophomore guard/forward Jay Howard (Pennsauken, N.J.). The Cardinals are coached by Steve Howes, Catholic '96 in his 12th season with the program.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: The winner of Endicott/CUA advances to face either Wooster (21-7) or No. 14 Lancaster Bible (27-0) on Saturday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m.

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