Men's Basketball Starts 2011-12 Campaign with Pair of Non-League Games
The Merrimack men's basketball team opens the 2011-12 season at the Bentley Tip-Off Classic for the second-straight year. The Warriors will take on non-conference foes Felician and Bloomfield in Waltham, MA.
Merrimack has twice faced the two schools and has triumphed in all four contests. The Warriors topped Bloomfield in the second game of the 2010-11 slate, earning a 110-82 victory at the Bentley Tip-Off Classic. Merrimack last faced Felician December 21, 2004, prevailing 101-61 over the Golden Falcons.
Merrimack is coming off of a 2010-11 season which yielded a 13-14 overall record with a 9-13 mark in the Northeast-10 Conference. The Warriors reached the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament as the 11th seeded team and fell to eighth-seed UMass Lowell in the first round.
Merrimack returns 72% of its scoring from a year ago, including five seniors, two juniors and one sophomore. Roland Davis (Deer Park, NY) is the Warriors' top returning scorer this season after averaging 16.9 points per game in 2010-11.
Senior Aaron Strothers (Wareham, MA) paced the team and conference with a 64.6 field goal percentage, tying the all-time single-season record. Strothers ranked 14th nationally in field goal percentage last season. The 6-7 forward rejected 59 shots last winter to lead the Warriors and rank third in the league.
Senior Wayne Mack (Paterson, NJ) will serve as the team captain for the second year in a row. Mack registered the top free throw percentage on the squad last season, draining 84.4% of his attempts. The guard dished out a team-high 99 assists in 2010-11 to go along with 41 steals.
Mack and Davis are on track to become the next members of the 1,000-point club at Merrimack. Davis is just 29 points shy of the milestone mark while Mack needs 42. Strothers is in range to net 1,000 career points as he enters the season with 735 to his credit.
Junior Tyler Young (Brooklyn, NY) is Merrimack's top returning rebounder. Young averaged 8.3 boards per contest and was one of just two players to start and appear in all 27 games as a sophomore.
Merrimack returns other veterans for the 2011-12 season to add depth and experience to the roster. Kevin Regan (Philadelphia, PA) logged 10 starts last year and appeared in 24 contests while Wilfredo Pagan (Lawrence, MA) and Adam Marshall (Kent, England) each made two starts.
Juan Carlos Rosich (San Jose, Costa Rica) came off the bench in 21 games for the Warriors in 2010-11, with his most productive outing coming in a 70-63 win over Stonehill. He scored a career-high eight points on four-of-six shooting from the field in 14 minutes of action against the Skyhawks on November 23 – his 22nd birthday.
The Warriors added five players for the 2011-12 campaign, four rookies and a transfer student. Junior Mike Clifford (Danvers, MA) headlines Merrimack's incoming class, coming from two seasons at the University of Buffalo. Alex Morsey (Beverly, MA), Dante Thompson (Coram, NY), Travonne Berry-Rogers (Lynn, MA) and Neil Thompson (Eatontown, NJ) are all entering their first collegiate seasons.
Head coach Bert Hammel embarks on his 32nd year on the Warriors' sideline. Hammel has guided Merrimack to three NCAA Tournament appearances in the past four years. He owns a career coaching record of 459-423, ranking him 20th on the all-time NCAA Division II wins list. Under Hammel's tutelage, two Warriors have garnered All-America honors in the past two seasons. Dee Mency attained the distinction in 2010-11 and Darren Duncan was recognized in 2009-10.
Following the Bentley Tip-Off Classic, Merrimack returns home to the newly-renamed Bert Hammel Court for four-straight home games. The Warriors will host Franklin Pierce November 16 in the Northeast-10 opener before welcoming Holy Family and Philadelphia University to North Andover for non-league contests. A home matchup against Bentley is set for November 22 to wrap-up the four-game home stand.
Merrimack will then hit the road for five-consecutive tilts, including the second-straight game at the Tsongas Center against UMass Lowell.
The Warriors carried a 6-3 record into the Christmas break last season. Merrimack kicked off January 2011 with a three-game winning-streak, defeating Saint Anselm, American International and Assumption.
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