St. Lawrence seals Seahawk victory, 77-76

NEWPORT, R.I. - Senior Scott St. Lawrence (Litchfield, N.H.) drew a foul on his layup attempt with 0.8 seconds left in a 76-76 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's basketball championships quarterfinal match between fourth-seeded Salve Regina University and fifth-seeded Endicott College. St. Lawrence made the second of two free throw attempts to make the Seahawks a 77-76 winner.

Sophomore Barrett Hanlon (Hopkinton, Mass.) and senior Patrick Dinneen (Medfield, Mass.) accounted for 56 of the 77 points for Salve Regina. Four Gulls were in double figures led by John Henault's (Lunenburg, Mass.) 19 points.

Similar to the meeting between these two teams three weeks ago, the game featured 19 ties and 16 lead changes.

Hanlon had 19 at the half, and Dinneen posted 13, as Salve Regina (17-9; 11-7 CCC) took a two-point lead into the break. Henault had nine in the first 20 minutes while Lachlan Magee (Melbourne, Australia) and Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) contributed seven apiece before intermission.

Daquan Sampson (Germantown, Md.) started the second half scoring with a short jumper for Endicott (17-9; 11-7 CCC). The Gulls enjoyed a 12-4 run to open their biggest lead of the game at 15:48 of the second (48-42). Greg Jacques (Brockton, Mass.) capped the run with a layup.

Dinneen converted a three-point play one minute later and St. Lawrence added a jumper. After a Makris layup, Dinneen swished a 3-pointer from the corner in front of his bench for the game's 10th deadlock, 50-50, at 13:11.

Jeff Bielefeld (Littleton, Mass.) scored the next four Seahawk points, two on free throws and two on a layup at 10:39. Salve Regina would not make another field goal until Joshua Hohlfelder (Noank, Conn.) converted a feed from Nicholas Bates (Danvers, Mass.) after the freshman stole a pass in the backcourt on the press at 7:18. Hanlon, Dinneen, and St. Lawrence each sank a pair of free throws in between the Bielefeld and Hohlfelder field goals.

Neither team led by more than three points in the final 11 minutes.

Bates had another steal and layup at 5:18 for a two-point Seahawk advantage (70-68). Makris found Sampson for an uncontested layup at 1:26 for a two-point Gull advantage (76-74).

Makris picked up his fourth foul when Hanlon drove the left side on the next Seahawk possession. After Hanlon's free throws at 1:09 tied the game for the final time (76-76), Endicott's Kamahl Walker (Worcester, Mass.), who came off the bench to score 11 points, found Sampson in the paint under a minute remaining. Sampson's turnaround jumper rolled off the rim.

Walker intercepted St. Lawrence's pass into Hanlon on the next Seahawk possession, under 15 seconds remaining, and Walker found Magee spotted up in the corner for a 3-point attempt. The shot hit side rim and bounded to Hanlon who dribbled up the right side before finding St. Lawrence streaking down the middle up ahead.

St. Lawrence double clutched to draw contact from Walker. After a timeout, St. Lawrence front rimmed his first free throw attempt, but made good on the second one. Sampson inbounded to Magee whose three-quarter court shot fell considerably short at the buzzer.

Makris finished with 13 points for Endicott and Magee added 12; Sampson had a game-high 13 rebounds. Hanlon finished with a game-high 31 points for Salve Regina and Dinneen scored 25 points.

Endicott's last game in the CCC men's basketball championships was on the same court two years ago when the Gulls captured the 2012 title, 90-66, over Salve Regina. Despite tying in the regular season standings, both with 11-7 league records, Salve Regina earned the tiebreak and home-court advantage with its win over top-seeded Nichols College on January 4.

The Seahawks advance to the semifinal on Thursday to play the No. 1 Bison in Dudley, Mass. (7 p.m.).