Men’s Basketball Upset by Assumption 83-77 in NE-10 Quarters

Boxscore

NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack men’s basketball team led by as much as 14, but Assumption fought back to defeat the Warriors 83-77 Tuesday night at the Volpe Gym in the Northeast-10 Quarterfinals.

With the win, Assumption, ranked fifth in the Northeast-10 Tournament, advances to the semifinals and will face #9 Saint Anselm Thursday night at 7 p.m.

Merrimack (20-8) will await Sunday’s NCAA Selection Show at 9 p.m. on ncaa.com to see if it is selected to its second-straight NCAA Tournament. The Warriors are ranked fifth in the east region according to last week’s NCAA Regional Rankings.

For the first time in the 29-year history of the Northeast-10, all of the top four seeds lost in the quarterfinals as Saint Anselm, Le Moyne, Southern NH, and Assumption upset Bentley, Lowell, Stonehill and the Warriors.

The Warriors came out strong, using a rowdy home crowd to their advantage, taking an early 9-3 lead, capitalizing off three Greyhound turnovers in the first 3:30. The hosts went to the locker room with full momentum after Wayne Mack (Paterson, NJ) stole an inbounds pass and converted the easy lay-up with ten seconds left in the half. Just before the buzzer, Mack drained a three, sending the Warriors to the locker room with the 48-35 lead.

Mack and Dee Mency (Hagerstown, MD) each scored 13 first-half points, while Darren Duncan (Briarwood, NY) tallied eight of his career-high 14 assists in the first 20 minutes.

But it was a tale of two halves as the Greyhounds cut the lead to three using a 21-11 run to start the second half, capped off with a three from Kevin Dunahue.

They took their first lead since midway through the first half when Mike Baldarelli grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in, giving the Greyhounds the 68-67 lead with 4:54 to play. After Roland Davis (Deer Park, NY) scored to regain the lead for the Warriors, Courtland Bluford scored back-to-back baskets, drawing fouls on both jumpers, for consecutive three-point plays, sandwiched between a Mack basket, to extend the Greyhound lead to three at 74-71. Greg Twomey followed with consecutive baskets after two Warrior turnovers, making it a seven-point lead with 1:10 to play and silencing the Warrior faithful.

Merrimack had its chances with the clock winding down after the Greyhounds missed six straight free-throws, but the Warriors failed to grab any defensive rebounds, allowing the visitors to run out the clock and escape with the victory.

Assumption outrebounded the Warriors 45-32 overall, 24-15 in the second half and 14-9 on the offensive glass.

Duncan tallied a double-double in the loss, scoring 20 points and dishing out a career-high 14 assists. He tallied five steals and four boards, but committed seven turnovers. Mack added 19 on 9-of-15 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, while Mency tallied 16, converting four baskets from behind the arc. Davis, despite battling foul trouble, scored 12 points.

Baldarelli led all scorers with 21 points and added nine boards, while Twomey scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Bluford finished with 13 off the bench, while Patrick Shea scored 10 points. The Greyhounds shot 58% from the field in the second half and scored 23 points off turnovers in the game, compared to 11 for Merrimack.