NEWPORT, R.I. – Salve Regina University (19-9) graduate student Ryan Birrell (Scituate, R.I.), the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Player and Defensive Player of the Year, recorded his first career triple-double (18 pts, 13 rebs, 10 asts), but a trio of Gulls from Endicott College (20-8) denied the Seahawks a repeat championship, winning 90-66 in tonight's title game.

Junior guard Lance Greene (Dorchester, Mass.) and freshman guard John Henault (Lunenberg, Mass.) scored 24 points apiece while sophomore Lachlan McGee (Melbourne, Australia) added 21 as Endicott won its fifth CCC championship since joining the league in 1999-00.

The Gulls, who won a title as a member of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference before joining the CCC, won their first title for third-year head coach Phil Rowe, a 22-year veteran coaching on the hardwood. Rowe had coached finalists at Keene State and Plymouth State when working the sidelines in the Little East Conference.

Birrell started the contest with a 3-pointer (19:34) before Greene answered with a layup and CCC Rookie of the Year Andre Makris (Southbury, Conn.) gave Endicott its first lead with a jumper.

There were five lead changes in the first eight minutes of the game before Henault hit his second of six 3-pointers for a six-point Gull lead, 21-15, at the 10:29 mark. Birrell started a 6-0 run for Salve Regina with a layup and Patrick Dinneen (Medfield, Mass.) and Scott St. Lawrence (Litchfield, N.H.) hitting a jumper and layup, successively, in a one-minute span.

Magee and Henault combined for the next five points before an 8-2 Seahawk run culminated with an Isiah Pringle (Queens, N.Y.) 3-pointer and the last Salve Regina lead, 29-28, with 5:22 left in the first. Magee scored nine more points during a 12-3 run to finish the half for Endicott up eight, 40-32.

In the second half, a Birrell 3-pointer pulled the Seahawks as close as four (47-43) at the 17:29 mark, but Endicott scored six straight points for a double-digit lead (53-43, 15:39). Pringle hit two 3-pointers over the next five minutes but Salve Regina could only take one point off its deficit.

Henault hit his fifth trey at 9:42 and the Gulls held a double-digit advantage the rest of the way. Makris also finished in double figures with 10 points while senior Erik Callo (Southington, Conn.) contributed 14 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Pringle led the Seahawks with 19 points. Salve Regina, the 2011 upset winner with three road victories, hopes for an invitation to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament with announcements on that field late Monday afternoon. For CCC Coach of the Year Sean Foster, it would mark his second bid to the ECAC Championships.

Endicott earns its sixth trip to the NCAA Division III Championships and will learn its destination during the men's basketball selection show on NCAA.com on Monday at noon.