Men's Basketball Stifles American International, 84-68
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.- The Merrimack men's basketball team rolled to an 84-68 victory over American International Wednesday evening at the Volpe Gym. The Warriors up their overall record to 8-3 and move to 4-3 in the Northeast-10. The Yellow Jackets dip to 10-3 on the year and 6-2 in conference play. The loss snapped American International's seven-game winning streak.
For the second straight contest, Wayne Mack (Paterson, N.J.) led the team as he poured in 18 points. Roland Davis (Deer Park, N.Y.) chipped in 17 points while Aaron Strothers (Wareham, Mass.) finished with 15. Dee Mency (Hagerstown, Md.) surpassed the 1,700 career points mark after scoring 12 in the game. Tyler Young (Brooklyn, N.Y.) registered his second double-double in as many games with 10 points and 14 boards.
Juan Carlos Rosich (San Jose, Costa Rica) posted a career-high 10 rebounds while adding seven points and a steal.
The two squads traded the first five buckets of the game as Merrimack gained an early 6-4 lead. The Warriors ran out to a nine point edge with seven minutes to go before the break. The Yellow Jackets would come within five points of the home team on two made free throws by Allen Aragbaye. Merrimack pushed its advantage to 11 on consecutive triples by Davis and Mack.
The Warriors owned a 39-28 lead at intermission. Mack finished the first half with 14 points to go along with three rebounds and three assists. Young recorded six points in the opening 20 minutes of play. Collectively, Merrimack connected on 43% of its field goal attempts in the first period.
The Blue and Gold kept the Yellow Jackets at bay through the second half. The Warriors allowed American International to get as close as seven points before scoring seven unanswered points to go ahead by 14 with 5:38 to go in the game.
Merrimack maintained a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game en route to its second-consecutive Northeast-10 victory.
The Warriors shot 43% from the field and 42% from three-point range. Merrimack held the American International to 42% shooting from the floor and limited the Yellow Jackets to 23% success from behind the arc.
For the fifth time this season, the Warriors pulled down more rebounds than their opponents. Merrimack grabbed 49 boards while allowing American International to pull down 39.
Isiah Wallace led all scorers with 26 for the Yellow Jackets while Aragbaye finished with 23 to his credit.
Up next, Merrimack will venture out west to Worcester, Mass. for a Northeast-10 matchup against Assumption January 8.
