Mar 9, 2009

Men's Basketball Returns to NCAA Tournament; Warriors Face Lowell Saturday at 12 p.m.

NORTH ANDOVER, MA – For the second straight season, the Merrimack men’s basketball team was selected to the NCAA tournament.

The Warriors, who will be the sixth seed in the East region, will take on third-ranked UMass Lowell in the first round of the NCAA tournament on March 14 at noon at C.W. Post in Brookville, NY.

This marks the seventh time in school history that the Warriors have advanced to the NCAA tournament. Prior to last season, Merrimack had not qualified since the 1999-00 season.

With a 20-8 record, Merrimack finished the regular season in fourth place in the Northeast-10 with a school-record 16 conference victories. It was also the first time they won 20 regular-season games.

The Warriors seemed to be a lock for the tournament in recent weeks, as they ranked fifth in the NCAA regional rankings for six straight weeks, but losing to Assumption in the Northeast-10 quarterfinals, coupled with the top three seeds, Bentley, Lowell and Stonehill, also losing, complicated tournament selection. The Greyhounds won the Northeast-10 Championship, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

C.W. Post, ranked second in the country with an unbeaten record, will serve as the host of the East region. Five teams were selected from the Northeast-10, including #2 Bentley, #3 UMass-Lowell, #4 Assumption, #5 Stonehill, and the sixth-seeded Warriors. Bridgeport earned the seventh seed while Philadelphia is the eighth seed.

The winner of the Merrimack/Lowell game will play the winner of Bentley/Bridgeport.

The Warriors split a pair of meetings with the River Hawks this season, defeating Lowell in Lowell 85-79 on November 2. Lowell evened the series with a 77-72 win at Merrimack on February 7.

Last season, the Warriors were the eighth seed in the tournament and lost to top-ranked and then-unbeaten Bentley 81-68 at the Dana Center in Waltham.

Three Warriors were named to the Northeast-10 All-Conference team, including Cousy Award finalist Darren Duncan (Briarwood, NY), who was a first-team honoree. Dee Mency (Hagerstown, MD) was a second-team selection, while Wayne Mack (Paterson, NJ) was named to the All-Rookie team.


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