Gulls Make History With 84-76 NCAA First Round Victory vs. No. 22 Catholic

NCAA DIVISION III MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL HOSTED BY CATHOLIC

COACH BETTENCOURT'S POSTGAME INTERVIEW 

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

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Endicott men's basketball team orchestrated an incredible second-half comeback to take down No. 22 Catholic University of America (CUA), 84-76, in the First Round of the 2016 NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Tournament on Friday night inside the Raymond A. DuFour Center.

Junior guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) scored a game-high 28 points to help the Gulls (19-10) advance to the NCAA Second Round for the first time in program history. Endicott will face Wooster (22-7) on Saturday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m.

The first half saw three tied scores as Endicott trailed nearly the entire stanza, but the Gulls erased a six-point deficit at 13:46 (17-11) to knot it at 21-all on Walker's layup at 9:49.

The Gulls trailed by as much as nine points, down 38-29 with 42 seconds remaining in the opening half before junior guard Drew Sawyer (Norwalk, Conn.) drained a three pointer with six seconds left to bring the score to 38-32 in favor of the Cardinals at the break.

Sophomore guard/forward Jay Howard (Pennsauken, N.J.) led the floor with 13 points at the half, while junior forward Corey Stanford (Harrison City, Pa.) chipped in a double-double in the first twenty minutes with 12 points and 10 boards. Walker added seven points to pace the Gulls at the half.

The main difference in the first half was that Endicott shot just 2-of-13 from three-point land, while Catholic hit 3-of-7 in comparison and made 7-of-8 free throws to the Gulls' 4-of-8.

As the second half got underway, the Gulls erased another nine point deficit, down 47-38 with 16:00 minutes on the clock by going on a 9-0 run to tie it at 47-47 on Walker's trey at 14:28.

Endicott took its first lead of the game, 50-49, on junior guard Stephen Basden's (Lynn, Mass.) triple with 13:18 to play and extended that edge to 53-49 on junior guard Max Motroni's (West Warwick, R.I.) three at 12:49. Walker then followed with layup at 12:28 to give the Gulls a six point lead (55-49) as part of their 17-2 run.

The Gulls grew their lead to nine, 62-53, at 9:46 on junior forward Daquan Sampson's (Germantown, Md.) triple before the media timeout and pushed that to 11 (64-53) on Motroni's pair of free throws with 9:06 left in the game for what would be Endicott's largest lead of the game.

The Cardinals chipped away at the Gulls' lead and made it a five-point game with 1:28 to play, trailing 75-70, but Endicott shut the door by sinking 7-of-8 free throws with a minute remaining and 17-of-18 free throws in the second half alone to secure the victory.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Gulls out-scored the Cardinals, 52-38 in the second half as the Gulls snapped the Cardinals' 10-game win streak and beat its first nationally-ranked opponent this season.
• 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., but with tonight's win, Endicott evened the all-time series, 1-1.
• Motroni has scored in double figures in all 28 games he has appeared in this season, with eight games scoring 20+ points, and become the team's 14th men's basketball player to reach the 1,000 point milestone and fifth to do so as a junior with his 16 points tonight.
• Walker's 28 points tonight gave him 534 on the season, surpassing his old season-high of 515 points scored during his sophomore season last year.
• Walker's 28 is the most in the past four NCAA postseason games for the Gulls, as Matt George had 21 versus Tufts in 2006 and Lance Greene '13 had 21 against Oswego St. in 2012.
• After winning their third conference title in the past five years, the Gulls made their seventh overall NCAA appearance (second consecutive) in program history and advanced to the Second Round for the first time ever. 
• The Gulls placed three in double figures as Basden joined Walker and Motroni in double digits with 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds and tied for a team-high with five assists.

FOR THE FOES

• The Cardinals earned their second-consecutive berth to the NCAA Tournament and third in the past five years after downing then No. 16 Susquehanna, 83-80, on Feb. 27 in the Landmark Conference Championship.
• The Cardinals placed four student-athletes in double figures as Howard had a team-high 26 points and game-high three blocks, followed by Stanford's double-double (23 points, game-high 13 rebounds), senior guard Kyle Phanord (Davie, Fla.) with 12 points, and senior guard Bryson Fonville (Greensboro, N.C.) was close to a triple-double with 10 points, seven rebounds, and a game-high nine assists.
• The Cardinals are coached by Steve Howes, Catholic '96 in his 12th season with the program as the team bowed out in the First Round after advancing to the NCAA Second Round last season.

NOTES

• Second-year head coach Kevin Bettencourt has led the Gulls to a 42-16 overall record in his tenure with back-to-back NCAA First Round appearances under his belt and is the first coach in Endicott men's basketball history to take his team to the Second Round.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (19-10) advances to face Wooster (22-7) on Saturday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. in the NCAA Second Round. No. 22 Catholic (22-6) sees its season come to an end.

NCAA DIII MEN'S BASKETBALL FIRST/SECOND ROUND SCHEDULE

FIRST ROUND

Friday, March 4, 2016

All games hosted by Catholic University of America

Game 1: Wooster 96, No. 14 Lancaster Bible  83

Game 2: Endicott 84, No. 22 Catholic 76

SECOND ROUND

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Wooster (22-7) vs. Endicott (19-10) - 7:00 p.m.