Strong First Half Pushes Men's Basketball Past New Haven, 79-63, in NE-10 First Round
Links: Box Score | Gelvis Solano Interview
WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The Merrimack College men's basketball team shot 50 percent in the first half while holding the University of New Haven to just 18 points and the Warriors never looked back as Merrimack held on for the 79-63 victory in the First Round of the Northeast-10 Championship. The Navy and Gold secured the program's first postseason win since the 2009-10 campaign, snapping a three-game postseason losing streak.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 79 | New Haven 63
Records: Merrimack (16-11, 10-11 NE-10) | New Haven (15-12, 10-11 NE-10)
Location: Chargers Gymnasium | West Haven, Conn.
2015 NE-10 Men's Basketball Championship Schedule
Friday, February 27 - First Round
Game 1: #4 NE Saint Michael's def. #5 SW Saint Rose – 68-65.
Game 2: #5 NE Merrimack def. #4 SW New Haven – 79-63.
Sunday, March 1 – Quarterfinals
Game 3: Saint Michael's at #1 SW So. Connecticut – 3:00 p.m.
Game 4: Merrimack at #1 NE Southern New Hampshire – 3:00 p.m.
Game 5: #3 NE Stonehill at #2 SW American International – 3:00 p.m.
Game 6: #3 SW Le Moyne at #2 NE Saint Anselm – 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 4 - Semifinals
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 6 – 7:00 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 7 - Final
Game 9: Winner Game 7 vs Winner Game 8* - 1:00 p.m.
How It Happened
The contest pitted the fifth-seeded Warriors against the fourth-seeded Chargers in a cross-divisional opening round matchup. Five minutes into the game, the teams exchanged baskets as a Cyrus James layup gave the Chargers a 10-8 advantage with 15:02 to go in the opening half. Over the next 3:14, Merrimack would go on a 14-0 run to take a 22-10 advantage. Junior guard Gelvis Solano (Harlem, N.Y.) would score 11 of the 14 points during the stretch, including three consecutive three-pointers.
Eric Anderson, the conferences Defensive Player of the Year, hit a two-pointer to stop the run, but Merrimack then scored eight straight points, highlighted by back-to-back threes from Troy Hammel (Valencia, Calif.). Over a span of 5:42, the Warriors outscored the Chargers 22-2.
At the 3:05 mark of the opening stanza, Solano hit another trey to cap off a tremendous half for the all-conference first-teamer. The shot game Merrimack its largest lead of the half at 20 points, and the Warriors entered halftime with a 38-18 lead. Over the first 20 minutes, Solano scored 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including five three-pointers.
New Haven would make it interesting at the start of the second half. Outside of a layup from James Kennedy (Dorchester, Mass.), the Charger would score the first 14 points of the half, including four straight three-pointers, and all of a sudden it was an eight-point game at 40-32. Merrimack called a timeout after the final three from New Haven with 15:41 to play in the game.
Out of the timeout, Merrimack scored seven consecutive points to build the lead back to 15 points at 47-32. Kennedy hit another layup at the midway point of the half, and the Warriors led by 16 points at 53-37.
The Chargers would start to chip away at the lead. A run of eight straight points from Jemal Mosley made it 62-49 with 6:20 to play. Senior Travonne Berry-Rogers (Lynn, Mass.), who battled foul trouble throughout the game, stopped that spurt with a three-pointer and it was 65-49. The Chargers answered as Anderson converted on a three-point play and it was 67-58 with less than four minutes left.
That would be as close as New Haven would get. Solano sank a three on the next Merrimack possession and Merrimack held the Chargers to just five points over the final 3:37, and the Warriors came away with the 79-63 win. The victory marks Merrimack's first playoff win as a program since 2009-10, when the Warriors advanced to the conference semifinals and qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Inside The Numbers
- Solano, the conference's leading scorer, put the Warriors on his back in what was the first postseason game for the majority of the roster. He finished with 34 points on 10-of-21 from the field, to go along with seven rebounds and four steals. It is the eighth time this season that Solano has totaled at least 30 points in a game
- The Warriors shot 51 percent from the field, while the difference in the game may have been in each team's ability to shoot the three-ball. The Warriors finished with 14 treys on 29 attempts (45 percent), while the Chargers hit just 6-of-22 from long distance (27 percent)
- Hammel and JT Strickland (Laurel, Md.) gave the Warriors so much-needed secondary scoring. Hammel totaled 14 points with three three-pointers, while Strickland scored 12 and added six boards
- Merrimack's ability to keep Anderson off the glass was huge. The nation's leading rebounder coming into the game finished with just seven caroms after averaging 13.2 per contest at the onset of the game
- Minutes played: With Berry-Rogers and junior forward Tyler Hunt (Oswego, N.Y.) limited to just 19 combined minutes off the bench as both players fouled out, Solano, Hammel and Strickland all played 40 minutes. Each player had the luxury of staying on the floor because none of the group picked up more than three fouls
Up Next
The Warriors will continue on in the NE-10 Championship to take on Southern New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in the quarterfinal round. Merrimack defeated the Penmen twice in the regular season, the only team in the Northeast Division to accomplish that feat.
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