Men's Basketball Prevails over Philadelphia, 63-58
NORTH ANDOVER, MA- The Merrimack men's basketball team topped Philadelphia University 63-58 Sunday afternoon in non-conference action at Bert Hammel Court. The Warriors improved to 4-1 overall with the win. The Rams sink to 1-3 on the season after dropping their second-straight contest.
Aaron Strothers (Wareham, MA) registered his second-consecutive double-double Sunday with a 13-point, 10-rebound effort. Wayne Mack (Paterson, NJ) led all scorers with 17 points on the day while adding eight boards and two steals. Mike Clifford (Danvers, MA) finished with 12 points and eight rebounds for the host. Adam Marshall (Kent, England) tied a career-high for the second-straight game with 10 points off the bench.
The Warriors sprinted out to a 7-0 lead after 3:12 had elapsed in the first frame. Mack opened the scoring with a three pointer.
The Rams drew back to within two points at 11-9 with 14:21 remaining in the opening half. The visitors knotted the score for the first time on the afternoon at 11-11 following a scoring drought which lasted 2:43.
Philadelphia claimed its first lead of the contest at 13-11 at the 11:10 mark on a lay-up from Tyree Harris.
The Rams pushed the gap to seven points with five minutes left to play in the first half as Temi Adebayo dunked the ball off of dish from Nick Christian.
Merrimack ignited its comeback with under 1:30 to go in the opening period. Trailing 29-23, Mack knocked down a jumper inside the paint to cut the deficit to four points.
Marshall drained a trey from the right corner to pull the Warriors to within one with less than a minute to play. Kevin Regan (Philadelphia, PA) dribbled into the key before kicking the ball out to Marshall for the wide-open jumper.
Mack drew a foul with 16.5 seconds on the clock, sending him to the charity stripe to shoot a pair. The senior captain converted Merrimack's first free throws of the day to award the hosts a 30-29 edge at halftime.
The Warriors shot just south of 42% from the field in the opening 20 minutes. The visitors boasted a 52% field goal percentage at the break.
Mack led the home team with nine points and four boards at intermission.
A triple by Roland Davis (Deer Park, NY) to start the second half extended Merrimack's lead to four after just 28 seconds of play. The senior guard hit the front of the rim on his first attempt and hustled to reel in his own rebound before sinking the second opportunity.
The Rams answered with a jumper from Temi Adebayo to cut the deficit in half.
The Warriors progressively distanced themselves from Philadelphia, grabbing a 14-point advantage midway through the second stanza.
The visitors worked their way to within striking distance, minimizing Merrimack's lead to three with 3:23 left to play.
A layup and free throw by Strothers restored the Warriors' margin to six with under two minutes to go in regulation.
The hosts held off the Rams' final charge en route to securing their fourth victory of the season.
Merrimack finished with a 38-36 edge in rebounding in the game. The Warriors connected on 25-of-60 field goal attempts on the day, sporting a 41.7 field goal percentage at the conclusion of the contest. Merrimack drained a third of its shots from beyond the three-point arc and 57.1% from the free throw line.
After shooting 52% from the floor in the first half, the Warriors' defense cooled Philadelphia's shooting in the second. The Rams shot 35.5 % on 11-for-31 from the field in the second frame to end the game with a field goal percentage of 42.9.
"Our defense played outstanding today and that was the key to our win," said head coach Bert Hammel. "We got a lot of great performances on both ends of the court from many players today. This game really showed our true potential. We are excited to resume conference play Tuesday."
The Warriors close out the four-game home stand with a Northeast-10 Conference tilt against Bentley November 22 at 7 pm.
