Feb 7, 2009
Men’s Basketball Edged by Lowell 77-72
NORTH ANDOVER, MA. – In front of a near capacity crowd at
the Volpe Gym, the Merrimack men’s basketball team was edged
by UMass Lowell 77-72 Saturday afternoon in a game filled with
conference and regional implications.
The win improves the River Hawks to 18-4 overall, 13-4 in the
Northeast-10, while Merrimack drops to 15-7 overall, 11-6 in the
NE-10. Lowell is in second place in the conference, fourth in the
east region, while the Warriors now are in fifth in the NE-10 and
in the region.
Lowell took a 41-30 lead into the locker room at halftime as the
visitors shot 51.7% from the field, led by Kevin Carr who drained
three from behind the arc. There were 19 total fouls in the first
half, 13 on the River Hawks, but the Warriors could not capitalize
as they shot just 50% on 7-of-14 shooting from the free throw line.
Dee Mency (Hagerstown, MD) scored 16 of the
Warriors’ 30 points and added a team-high six rebounds, while
Darren Duncan (Briarwood, NY) was held to just one
point as he committed his second foul 6:37 into the game.
The second half was much of the same as both teams played the
majority of the half in the double bonus. There were a combined 53
free throws and 51 fouls.
After a dunk from Mency, the Warriors cut the lead to five at 58-52
with 6:31 to play. But the River Hawks didn’t quit, as Craig
Heatherly scored nine of his 14 points in the second half and most
of them down the stretch. He drained a three with 4:13 remaining to
increase the lead to 12 at 65-53. But Merrimack did everything they
could to cut the gap as Duncan was involved in virtually every
scoring play down the stretch. He scored seven straight points to
cut the lead to 70-63 and the deficit was cut to three after a
Mency three with 15 seconds left, but it was too little, too late
for the Warriors, who dropped their third straight game.
Mency finished with 23 points and nine boards, while Duncan tallied
18, 17 in the second half, but was just 4-of-13 from the field,
0-for-4 from three point range, and 10-for-17 from the line.
Wayne Mack (Paterson, NJ) was also in double
figures with 10 points. The Warriors shot just 39% overall, 21.4%
from behind the arc and just 58.8% from the line (20-for-34).
Carr led four River Hawks in double figures with 16 points as the
visitors overcame committing 29 turnovers and having two starters
foul out.
Merrimack hosts Franklin Pierce Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at the
Volpe Gym.
