Men's Basketball Drops Decision to #10 Bentley on the Road
WALTHAM, MA – Despite a team-high 20 points from senior
captain Darren Duncan (Briarwood, NY), the
Merrimack men's basketball team dropped a 72-59 contest at
#10 Bentley University Wednesday evening.
Following 15% shooting from deep and a deficit of 13 on the glass,
Merrimack dropped their first game of February to drop to 7-4 on
the road.
With seven of Merrimack's first nine points, Duncan kept
Merrimack abreast with the Falcons, 9-9, at the six minute mark.
Sophomore Wayne Mack (Paterson, NJ) also chipped
in six early points for Merrimack. Mack would finish with 11
points, one of only two players for Merrimack in double
figures.
With two three-pointers a piece in the first half of play, both
teams struggled from beyond the arc shooting a combined 4-of-26 to
start the game. Back in the lineup for the first time in four games
and two weeks, junior Dee Mency (Hagerstown, MD)
struggled from the field (1-of-8) in the first 20 minutes with his
only field goal coming more than 18 minutes into the contest.
Bentley's leading scorer, Jason Westrol (20.0 ppg), scored
15 first half points (25 in the game) for the home team on the way
to a 35-25 halftime lead capped off by a layup at the buzzer from
Tom Dowling.
With three personal fouls, Duncan matched the Falcons total first
half foul tally as opposed to the Warriors 10 team fouls that
yielded 5-of-6 from the line for Bentley.
Committing eight turnovers, being minus eight on the boards
(26-16) and only one trip to the foul line in the first half,
Merrimack scored a season-low 25 points in the first stanza.
With improved shooting from three-point range in the second
half—hitting five of their first nine—Bentley kept
Merrimack at bay with a 13-point lead seven minutes into the second
half.
The Warriors would chip away at the lead and pull within seven at
3:43 on a tip-in from sophomore Aaron Strothers (Wareham,
MA).
Plagued by foul trouble, Merrimack was without starting guard Mack
for the final three minutes of the contest. From that point
on, Bentley would end the game on an 8-2 run and their 14th
straight victory.
For the Warriors, who dropped to 14-5 (12-4 NE-10) on the year,
the loss marked their 12th straight in match-ups with Bentley,
dating back to 2005-06.
The Warriors return to action at home when they host Saint Anselm
at the Volpe Gym on Saturday at 3:00pm.
