Men's Basketball Falls to Lowell at Tsongas Center by Slim Margin
LOWELL, MA- Despite a career-high 30 points by Wayne Mack (Paterson, NJ), the Merrimack men's basketball dropped a 68-66 decision to UMass Lowell at the Tsongas Center Saturday afternoon. The Warriors sink to 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The River Hawks improve to 5-3 on the year and 2-3 in league contests.
Along with Mack's 30 points, the senior captain pulled down eight boards and came up with six steals. Roland Davis (Deer Park, NY) and Aaron Strothers (Wareham, MA) each finished with 10 points for the visitors. Tyler Young (Brooklyn, NY) grabbed 12 rebounds while contributed eight points.
Nine of the game's first 13 points came from the charity stripe as Lowell claimed an early 9-4 advantage.
Merrimack knotted the score at 9-9 as Mack drained a trey after 6:01 had elapsed.
After the River Hawks grabbed a five-point edge, baskets by Young and Mack tied the contest at 16-16 midway through the first half.
Lowell opened up a seven-point gap with 4:20 remaining in the opening frame as it led 30-23.
The Warriors battled back to cut the deficit to one at the halftime break, 35-34. Mack tallied 23 points in the first 20 minutes of play, including going 12-for-12 from the free throw line.
Merrimack shot 24.1% from the field in the opening half while the River Hawks owned a 30.3 field goal percentage.
The Warriors claimed their first lead of the afternoon after a minute of action as Mack converted a pair of free throw attempts.
A layup from Strothers stretched Merrimack's advantage to seven points with 14:24 left to play, 47-40.
An 8-0 run by the hosts pushed Lowell ahead 48-47 with 11:04 remaining in the contest.
Wilfredo Pagan (Lawrence, MA) hit two free throws to restore the Warriors' one-point edge at the 9:09 mark of the second stanza.
After Davis sank a lay-up with 5:37 left to go to give Merrimack a 61-58 lead, Lowell's Matt Welch knocked down a triple to level the match at 61-61. Welch's trey started a 9-0 span for the River Hawks as they pulled ahead 67-61 with 3:39 showing on the clock.
The Warriors clawed back to within four points on two free throws by Young with 2:47 left to go.
Akeem Williams extended the home team's advantage to five as he sank the front end of a one-and-one with 41 seconds remaining.
Mack attained a new career-best as he deposited a jumper with 34 seconds to go to slice Lowell's lead to three.
After a missed three-pointer from Alex Morsey (Beverly, MA) that would have tied the game, Kevin Regan (Philadelphia, PA) came up with a steal to give Merrimack possession.
Pagan drew a foul to send him to the free throw stripe to shoot a pair with 16 ticks left on the clock. The senior connected on his second attempt, drawing the Warriors to within two of the hosts.
Morsey had a chance to send the game to overtime but his lay-up bounced off the rim .
Merrimack finished the game with a 29.3 field goal percentage while the River Hawks shot 32.8% from the court on the day.
Lowell outrebounded the Warriors in the game 49-43, including a 14-9 margin on the offensive glass.
Williams paced the River Hawks with 17 points in the victory.
"We were in the game from the start and we played well on the offensive end," said head coach Bert Hammel. "We needed to do a better job of limiting the other team's second chance opportunities."
Merrimack remains on the road with an away contest at Saint Michael's December 6.
