Men's Basketball Stumbles at Franklin Pierce, 86-76
Links: Box Score
RINDGE, N.H. – The Franklin Pierce University Ravens entered the second half with a 17-point lead and held off the Merrimack College men's basketball team from there, defeating the Warriors, 86-76, on Saturday afternoon from the FPU Fieldhouse in Northeast-10 Conference play.
The Basics
Score: Franklin Pierce 86, Merrimack 76
Records: Merrimack (5-6, 1-5 NE-10) | Franklin Pierce (5-3, 4-2 NE-10)
Location: FPU Fieldhouse | Rindge, N.H.
How It Happened
After senior forward James Kennedy (Dorchester, Mass.) hit the first bucket of the game, senior JT Strickland (Laurel, Md.) scored seven straight points for the Warriors over a span of four minutes. After a trey from Matt Banton, the Ravens led by four points, 13-9, with 14:09 to play in the first half.
Freshman Troy McLaughlin (Old Tappan, N.J.) hit his first career three-point at the midway point of the first half followed by a triple from Strickland at the 9:11 mark to cut the deficit to one points at 21-20. From there the Ravens went on an 8-0 run to build a nine-point advantage.
The lead for the Ravens hovered around there for the remainder of the opening stanza, until the hosts used a 7-0 spurt to close out the half and enter intermission with a 49-32 advantage.
Merrimack started to chip away at the deficit to begin the second half. Kennedy converted on a pair of three-point plays, while senior Troy Hammel (Valencia, Calif.) connected on his first three-pointer of the afternoon and the Ravens lead was down to 10, 55-45, with 15:58 remaining. Strickland hit a triple 30 seconds later and the Warriors trailed by single digits for the first time since the first half.
Another old-fashioned three-point play, this time from Anthony Barry (Uxbridge, Mass.), made it a 65-57 game in favor of Franklin Pierce. After that, the Ravens hit three of their 17 three-pointers on the afternoon consecutively to build the lead back to 17 points at 76-59, with just 6:39 to go in the game.
From there, the Ravens lead never dipped below double digits. Hammel scored seven straight points to get the deficit down to 10 points late in regulation, but any hope of a Warriors comeback diminished at that point. The Ravens victory improved their overall mark to 5-3, while Merrimack fell to 5-6.
Inside The Numbers
- Strickland finished with a team-high 23 points, one of four Warriors in double figures. He shot 7-of-11 from the field and made seven of his 10 free-throw attempts. The point guard also dished out nine assists, one shy of his second double-double of the season. Hammel added 17 points for the Navy and Gold, with Merrimack's backcourt combing for 40 on the afternoon
- Kennedy set a new career high with 14 rebounds, to go along with 11 points for his first double-double of the season. Saturday marked the fourth time this season Merrimack's second-year forward has notched at least 10 caroms in a game
- Barry totaled 16 points in 26 minutes as a reserve, hitting 7-of-14 from the field. He finished one-point shy of tying his season high, which he set in the second game of the year against Concordia (N.Y.)
- The Ravens, who entered the game as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the conference, proved why, shooting over 50 percent (17-33) from beyond the arc. Four players hit at least two treys, with Banton coming off the bench to connect on 6-of-8
Up Next
Merrimack is set for a 19-day layoff between games as the Warriors are next in action on Wednesday, Dec. 30, in Brookville, N.Y. against LIU Post. The contest marks the end of the Navy and Gold's non-conference schedule.
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