BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Kyle Romich (Groton, Mass.) connected on 11-of-17 shots from the floor, en route to a game-high 27 points, as the Wentworth Institute of Technology men's basketball team clinched the number two seed in the upcoming Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament with an 85-59 win over Roger Williams in the regular-season finale for both squads.
The Leopards, who set a program record for conference victories (13) improve to 15-10 overall and finish league play with a 13-5 mark. The number two seed is the highest the program has been seeded since the 2010-2011 campaign. Wentworth will look to begin its run to a second straight title game appearance on Tuesday night when the Leopards host seventh-seeded University of New England at 7:00. Roger Williams finishes the regular season with a 10-15 record and are the number six seed in the upcoming tournament with an 8-10 record. The Hawks will travel to third-seeded Eastern Nazarene on Tuesday, also at 7:00.
Wentworth jumped out to a 9-0 lead thanks to five points from Romich and would take an 11-2 lead after a Romich basket with 15:14 left in the half. Roger Williams trimmed the lead to six on a pair of occasions, including when senior Trevor Fahmy (Bedford, N.H.) hit a jumper with 12:52 left to make it 16-10. Wentworth outscored Roger Williams 25-9 over the next 10:50 and took a 41-19 lead after a sophomore Jason Ganley (Northbridge, Mass.) jumper. The Hawks scored the final four points of the half to make it 41-23 at the break. Over the first 20 minutes Wentworth shot 47.1 percent from the floor and limited Roger Williams to 33.3 percent.
The Leopards opened the second half by extending their lead to 23 as Romich scored five straight points. After the Hawks cut the lead to 18, Wentworth went on a 9-0 run which was capped off by a senior Ian Therriault (Auburn, Maine) three pointer and took its largest lead of the night, 63-36, with 11:03 remaining. The Leopards matched their largest lead on two other occasions, and, after Roger Williams had cut the lead to 18 with 6:10 remaining, five straight sophomore Cesar Fulcar (Watertown, Mass.) points brought the lead back to above 20 where it stayed for the remainder of the contest.
Fifteen of Romich's 27 points came in the first half and he finished the game 5-for-6 from behind the arc. Ganley had 16 points, four rebounds, and five assists, and Fulcar added 15 points and four rebounds. Therriault grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds while sophomore Ben Kizel (Short Hulls, N.J.) dished out nine assists in the win. Wentworth had a 40-31 rebounding advantage and shot 49.2 percent from the floor, including 51.6 in the second half, while holding Roger Williams to 32.7 percent.
Senior Josh McCourt (Lincoln, R.I.) led the Hawks with 23 points while junior Andrew Wasik (Gainesville, Fla.) added 11.
Wentworth and the University of New England will be meeting for the 34th time with the Leopards holding a 25-8 series advantage. Winners of 13 straight series meetings, Wentworth won both meetings this season. It also marks the second straight season the two have met in the CCC Tournament as Wentworth defeated the Nor'Easters, 70-61, in last season's semifinal round.