Men's Hoops Plagued By Turnovers in Loss to Pace
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.- The Merrimack men's basketball team suffered a 77-64 loss to Pace Saturday afternoon at Volpe Gym. With the loss, the Warriors slide to 9-7 overall and 5-7 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Setters upped their record to 10-8 on the year and 6-7 in league action.
Darin Mency (Hagerstown, Md.) recorded a game-high 22 points while adding eight boards and five assists. Roland Davis (Deer Park, N.Y.) contributed 14 points and Tyler Young (Brooklyn, N.Y.) finished with 10 points. Aaron Strothers (Wareham, Mass.) added eight points and eight rebounds in the game.
A fast break layup by Mency gave Merrimack an early 9-7 lead. On the next trip down the floor, Mency drained a three to push the score to 12-9.
The Setters strung together an 11-2 run to gain a six-point advantage with 12 minutes to play, 20-14.
Davis scored a lay-up with 2:24 remaining in the half to pull Merrimack to within seven. Pace added two points in the final minute of play in the first frame to extend its lead to nine at intermission, 45-36.
Davis paced Merrimack through the first half with 14 points while Mency and Strothers each added eight. The Warriors shot 46.7% from the field in the opening period while the Setters nearly matched it with a 42.5% field goal percentage.
Midway through the second half, Mency knocked down a three-pointer to cut the deficit to seven, 60-53.
The closest Merrimack came to tying up the score in the second stanza was a six-point margin after Kevin Regan (Philadelphia, Pa.) sank a free throw with under seven minutes left to play.
The Setters drained the clock in the final moments to hold on for the win.
The Warriors found the net on 39.3% of their field goal attempts on the day while shooting 34.6% from three-point land. Pace shot 41.7% from the floor in the game and 28.6% from distance.
"We need to do a better job of protecting the ball and keeping possession," said head coach Bert Hammel.
Up next, Merrimack will take on Southern Connecticut in a Northeast-10 road contest January 25.
