Men's Basketball Falls to Bentley in East Region Semifinal, 83-79
NCAA East
Regional Video
EASTON, MA – Despite clawing back from a 15-point margin
to pull within two in the second half, the Merrimack College
men's basketball season came to an end at the hands of
Bentley University in the NCAA East Regional semifinal at Stonehill
College Sunday, 83-79.
“Being down 15 and coming back just showed our guys
character,” said Hammel following the game. “[Our
team] does more than people know and I'm truly proud of their
effort this year, especially all the work the seniors have put
in.”
With the program's third straight trip to the NCAA
tournament for the first time ever, Bert Hammel's Warriors
earned their second straight 21-9 season, but also fell victim to
the Falcons of Bentley in the East Regional semifinal for a second
straight year.
Coming off a 21-point, 12-rebound performance against Lowell,
junior Dee
Mency (Hagerstown, MD) produced another offensive gem
with a game-high 24 points and another 12 rebounds in 38 minutes of
play.
“I didn't have a great first half,” said Mency
in the post-game. “I knew I needed to hit some shots to
give us a chance.”
Sophomore Wayne Mack (Paterson,
NJ) shot a perfect 5-of-5 from deep to score 19 points,
while grabbing nine boards and assisting on four Warrior buckets.
Breaking the scoring seal with a jumper from the elbow, senior
captain Darren Duncan
(Briarwood, NY) helped the Warriors grab a 7-2 advantage
as Mency canned a jumper and Mack buried a right-wing three.
Bentley would force three Warrior turnovers, though, to aid a 7-0
run to gain an 11-10 lead at the first media timeout.
The Warriors would regain the lead at 14-13 on a pair of free
throws from Mency, but with seven of 12 first half points from
Conference Player of the Year, Jason Westrol the Falcons grabbed a
24-18 edge at 5:45. Westrol finished with a team-high 21
points, just over his season average.
Coming off a quarterfinal win over UMass-Lowell in which the
Warriors hit a season-high nine first half three-pointers,
Merrimack began shooting 15% from three before Mack hit his third
trey and sophomore Roland Davis (Deer
Park, NY) followed up with a triple of his own giving way
to a 35-30 halftime score.
At 20-2 this season when leading at the half, Merrimack owned a
1-6 record entering Sunday's contest when trailing at the
break but eventually fell to 1-7 after Sunday's semifinal.
The Warriors would end up shooting 27% from three (4-of-15) in
the first half, a shade above Bentley's 25% shooting (2-of-8)
from deep. Despite being tagged with two fouls just over two
minutes into play, Duncan would play all but one minute before the
break, but struggled from the field (2-of-9). Mack carried
the Warriors with 13 first half points, including a perfect tally
from beyond the arc.
Coming out of the locker room, the Warriors missed their first
three attempts from the field as Bentley did just the opposite with
a layup from Westrol, two free throws and two threes to take a
45-30 lead following a 10-0 run.
Mency would string together three straight jumpers and Mack
would connect on his fourth three to get Merrimack within 10 before
Davis scored five straight to pull within six (52-46) at 12:30 of
the second half.
Following five threes on Saturday, Mency began the evening
0-of-5 from deep before pulling the Warriors to within three on a
right-wing trey at 11:45. Mency would hit two more triples to
finish 3-of-12 in the game.
The team's would trade three pointers over the next two
minutes as Davis and Duncan each converted for Merrimack and Brian
Tracey nailed his second of the afternoon. Tracey finished
the afternoon with 19 points.
At 5:11, Davis buried his fourth three of the game to cut
the margin to six (68-62), but Bentley answered with a three of its
own from John Brandt.
With two minutes to play and a 75-70 deficit, the Warriors
picked up on full court defense, but a touch-foul by Duncan in the
backcourt on Westrol was his fifth and put an early end to the
career of the most prolific scorer in 18 years at Merrimack
College. On Sunday, Duncan finished with 11 points, five
assists and two steals in his final game as a Warrior. Duncan
ends his career as the all-time leader in Merrimack history with
825 assists, while grabbing a program best 267 steals and finishing
third all-time in scoring with 2,049 points. Duncan also set
the all-time Conference mark with 725 free throws made and 918
attempted (79%).
“This has been the best four years of my life,”
Duncan commented in a post-game press conference. “On
the court, off the court, with these guys; it's been a great
four years and I wouldn't change a thing—[Merrimack],
the staff, everything.”
Tying a single half season-high nine three-pointers (set
Saturday vs. UMass-Lowell) in the second half, Merrimack shot 41%
on the evening, matching Bentley's 41% effort from deep
(7-of-17). John Brandt his three triples in the second half
on the way to a career-high 21 points on Sunday.
