Following an historic debut campaign at Endicott College, Gloucester native Marcus Montagnino has been named the Conference of New England (CNE) Player of the Year.
The honor shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, as Montagnino was utterly dominant in his first collegiate hoops season. The graduate student becomes the sixth Gull to earn the award after a monster rookie season that saw him average 22.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.1 steals in 33.1 minutes per game.
He shot lights out, too, hitting a 59.4% clip from the field, 44.8% from three, and 80.8% from the free throw line, all of which ranked among the top four in the CNE. His scoring average was second best in the league (and ranked 17th nationally), while his rebounding and facilitating numbers each ranked among the top three in the conference.
The end-of-season accolade caps off a ridiculous run that saw Montagnino capture the CNE Player of the Week award five times and the CNE Rookie of the Week award 11 times.
Among his most notable individual performances, Montagnino became just the second Gull ever to record a triple-double when he went off for 33 points, 13 assists (program record) and 11 rebounds in a win over Hartford. He also poured in 25 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists against UNE and had 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists against Lake Forest.
Montagnino had six games of 30 or more points and reached double figures in every single game he took the court. He helped Endicott to an 11-game winning streak and an 18-win season, its most victories since the 2019-20 campaign.