Mency and Mack Catapult Men's Hoops Past Assumption
WORCESTER, Mass.- The Merrimack men's basketball team rattled off its third-straight win with a 94-82 victory over Assumption Saturday afternoon at Laska Gym. The Warriors run their record up to 9-3 overall and 5-3 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Greyhounds dip to 7-8 on the year and 4-5 in league play.
Merrimack was led by Dee Mency (Hagerstown, Md.) with 29 points and Wayne Mack (Paterson, N.J.) with 28. Roland Davis (Deer Park, N.Y.) finished with 14 points while Tyler Young (Brooklyn, N.Y.) pitched in 11 points and 13 rebounds for his third-consecutive double-double.
The Greyhounds bolted out to a 7-2 lead to open the game but Merrimack battled back to go up 11-10 after five minutes of play. Assumption tallied nine unanswered points to regain the lead 19-11.
The Warriors got back into the game after tying the score 31-31 with 5:45 remaining in the opening stanza. Davis knocked down a three-pointer to give Merrimack a 34-31 advantage moments later.
The visitors held onto the lead until halftime as the Warriors went into the break with a nine-point edge, 50-41.
Assumption chipped away at Merrimack's advantage in the opening minutes of the second frame. The Greyhounds took the lead seven minutes into the second period on a free throw by Mike Baldarelli.
Mency drained a triple to put the Warriors ahead by two, 67-65, and followed that up with another three to extend the lead to five points. Merrimack never looked back as it forged ahead en route to a double-digit margin. The Warriors held on for their ninth win of the 2010-11 slate and third-straight win of 2011.
Baldarelli registered 21 points to lead Assumption while three other players scored in double-figures.
Merrimack shot 46% from the field and 45% from three-point land as it connected on 13-of-29 shooting from downtown. Assumption mimicked the Warriors field goal percentage by sinking 46% in the game. Merrimack outrebounded the Greyhounds by a 46-40 margin.
"We came out slow but we did a great job of battling back and controlling the game," said head coach Bert Hammel.
The Warriors return home to Volpe Gym January 11 to take on Le Moyne in a Northeast-10 Conference game. The contest will be streamed by the conference and produced by Pack Networks.
