NCAA TOURNAMENT: Endicott vs. Wooster; Second Round Preview

NCAA DIVISION III MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET

D3HOOPS.COM 2016 MEN'S NCAA TOURNAMENT PREVIEW

TOURNAMENT CENTRAL HOSTED BY CATHOLIC

LIVE STATS/LIVE VIDEO

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

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's basketball team will tip-off against The College of Wooster (Wooster, Ohio)  in the Second Round of the 2016 NCAA DIII Men's Basketball Tournament on Saturday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. inside the DuFour Center in Washington, D.C.

Endicott (19-10) is making its first-ever NCAA Second Round appearance in seven trips after stringing together a second half comeback Friday night against host No. 22 Catholic University of America, 84-76, as junior guard Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) scored a game-high 28 points and junior guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) eclipsed 1,000 career points on the night.

The Gulls will battle the Fighting Scots (22-7), who earned an at-large bid to the field, and advanced to the Second Round with a 96-83 victory in the other First Round game on Friday over previously unbeaten (one of two teams in the country) No. 14 Lancaster Bible (27-1) to snap a 31-game win streak for the Chargers dating back to last season. 

PREVIOUS MATCHUPS:  Endicott has never met Wooster on the hardwood until tonight.

POSTSEASON HISTORY: After winning their third Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) title in the past five years, the Gulls are making their seventh overall NCAA appearance (second consecutive) in program history and advanced to the Second Round for the first time in program history. Second-year head coach Kevin Bettencourt, Bucknell '06 has led the Gulls to a 42-16 overall record in his tenure and is the second coach in the team's history to bring his team to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.

ENDICOTT (19-10) | 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 1,320 career points.  All-CCC Second Team junior guard Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) has scored in double figures in all 28 games he has appeared in this season, with eight games scoring 20+ points, and became 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 against Catholic to push him over the 1,000 point threshold. All-CCC Second Team junior forward Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) has 11 double-doubles on the season. 

WOOSTER (22-7) | ROSTER |SCHEDULE | STATISTICS: The Fighting Scots reached the championship game of the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament for the 19th time in the last 20 seasons, but finished runner-up for the second year in a row. However, for an NCAA Div. III record 14th consecutive year, The College of Wooster is part of the NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championship, as the Scots are making their 25th appearance in the NCAA Div. III tourney. Only three others have been in as many – Hope College (25), University of Scranton (27), and Wittenberg University (27). Wooster's 14-straight tournament appearances surpasses the 13-year run that the State University of New York at Potsdam put together from 1978-90. The Scots' all-time record in the Div. III tourney is 32-25. Wooster has reached the Div. III sectional round ("Sweet 16") nine times over the last 17 years, highlighted by runs to the 2011 national championship game and to the semifinals two other times (2003, 2007).

In addition to now holding the record for consecutive appearances in the NCAA Div. III Championship, Wooster extended another national mark earlier this year with its 20th consecutive 20-win season. The architect behind the winningest NCAA men's basketball team of the 2000s at 411-76 (.844) is Steve Moore. In addition to guiding Wooster to 432 victories this century, he carries a 29-year record of 690-158 (.814) with the Fighting Scots. Prior to coming to Wooster in 1987-88, Moore coached Muhlenberg College for six seasons and was successful there as well, giving him a career record of 777-223 (.777) in his 35 years of coaching, which puts him third all-time in wins for Div. III coaches. Moore has eight Coach-of-the-Year honors from the North Coast Athletic Conference. 

Wooster is led by junior forward/center Dan Fanelly (Uniontown, Ohio), who delivered a throwback performance during the 1,000th game of head coach Steve Moore's career, as he scored 45 points – the most by a Fighting Scot since 1970 – paving the way for a 96-83 victory over previously undefeated Lancaster Bible College in an opening round NCAA Div. III Men's Basketball Championship game at Catholic University's DuFour Center on Friday.

Fanelly's 45 points included 21 field goals, which equaled an NCAA Div. III Tournament record for a single game, last accomplished by Gerald Reece of William Penn in 1981, and it tied a Wooster record, established by Tom Dinger back on Jan. 10, 1970.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: The winner of tonight's Second Round game will advance to the NCAA's Sectional Round ("Sweet 16") on March 11 and will face the winner of Gwynedd Mercy/Oswego St.  

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NCAA DIII MEN'S BASKETBALL FIRST/SECOND ROUND SCHEDULE

FIRST ROUND

Friday, March 4, 2016

All First/Second Round games hosted by Catholic University of America

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.

THIRD ROUND

Friday, March 11, 2016

Endicott/Wooster winner  vs. Gwynedd Mercy/Oswego St. winner