DUDLEY, Mass. – Senior captain Gustave Koumare (Harlem, N.Y.) scored a game-high 38 points – including his 1,000th career point in the second half – in Nichols College's 82-80 loss to Endicott College Thursday night in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Semifinals at the Nichols Athletic Center.
 
Freshman Marcos Echevarria (Lynn, Mass.) finished with 18 points and helped the Bison erase a 19-point second half deficit and tie the game before Endicott junior Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) put the Gulls ahead for good with a dunk with 24 seconds remaining. The loss snapped the Bison's 15-game win streak and drops them to 23-4. They will await to see if they receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Gulls (17-10) were led by junior Max Motroni (West Warwick, R.I.) with 23 points while Sampson recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards. The defending conference champions will host No. 6 Roger Williams in the CCC Championship on Saturday afternoon with the winner earning the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Bison trailed by as many 19 points with 10:49 to go in the second half before storming back to tie the game at 72. A jumper by Motroni put the Gulls in front 71-52 before nine points from Koumare, five from Echevarria, and four from seniors Irving Eggleston (East Lyme, Conn.) and Christian Horton (Rutland, Mass.) ignited the comeback.
 
Echevarria was fouled on a three-point attempt and sank all three from the charity stripe to start the comeback. Koumare knocked down a three shortly thereafter to make it 71-59 with nine minutes to go. Two free throws from Horton at 8:03 cut the Nichols' deficit to nine at 71-62 before layups from Horton at 6:36, Echevarria at 5:52, and Koumare at 4:59 made it a two-point game at 71-69.
 
Walker made one of two from the line on the ensuing possession to push the Endicott lead to three, but Koumare sank three from the line after being fouled to tie the game at 72 with 4:12 on the clock. His layup with 2:13 to go gave the home team its first lead since late in the first half at 76-74, but Motroni canned a triple at the other end six seconds later to put Endicott back in front by one.
 
Echevarria then hit a step-back three out of a timeout that gave Nichols the lead back at 79-77 with 1:32 remaining. After Motroni hit a free throw and Echevarria missed a layup at the other end, Sampson threw down a dunk off a pass from junior Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.) to put the Gulls up 80-79. Echevarria's three-point attempt at the other end was blocked by Walker, and Motroni hit two free throws to make it an 82-79 Endicott lead with five seconds to go.
 
With no time outs remaining, the ball was inbounded to Echevarria in the backcourt. He drove the right side of the court and was fouled while attempted a three-pointer from the right corner with 0.5 seconds on the clock. He stepped to the line and made the first of his three free throw attempts, prompting an Endicott timeout. He missed the second one, which forced him to miss the third intentionally, and Sampson snared the rebound on the final free throw as time expired.
 
Nichols – which tied a program-record with 23 wins this season and was the No. 1 seed in the tournament for the third-consecutive season – committed just two turnovers in the second half of the game and finished the night shooting 41 percent. The Gulls sank 50 percent of their first-half shot attempts and closed the game shooting 48 percent from the floor.
 
The Bison held a slim 39-37 rebounds edge behind 13 from junior Devin Stallings (Waterbury, Conn.). Eggleston was the third Nichols student-athlete in double-figures with 10 points before fouling out with 4:38 to go in the second half. Walker registered 13 points and six assist in 36 minutes of action.
 
In the first half, Nichols jumped out to a 23-15 lead behind 12 from Koumare. The Gulls closed the frame on a 29-14 run and led 44-37 at the break. Motroni and junior Chris Lipscomb (West Springfield, Mass.) each scored 10 to pace the Gulls in the opening stanza.