Men’s Basketball Charges into New Haven, Primed to Fight for Third NE10 Title in Program History

Matchup	Merrimack (21-9) at New Haven (20-8) NE10 Championship - Final
Date/Time	Saturday, March 9, 2019 // 1:00 p.m.
Venue	Charger Gymnasium // West Haven, Conn..
Multimedia	Live Stats // Watch // Twitter // Instagram

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After erasing a 15-point deficit to win in the quarterfinals and upsetting top-seeded Le Moyne in overtime to prevail in the semis, the Merrimack College men's basketball team shifts its attention to the Northeast-10 Conference Championship bout on Saturday afternoon when the Warriors take on second-seeded New Haven. Tip-off from Charger Gymnasium in West Haven, Conn. is set for 1 p.m. as the Warriors make a bid for the NE10's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship.

Saturday marks the fourth time that Merrimack will compete for the NE10 Championship, owning a 2-1 record in the previous three attempts. The Warriors previously won the title in 1991-92 and 1999-00. Wednesday' semifinal victory broke the program's 19-year drought between title game appearances.
 
2019 NE10 Championship Schedule
First Round ­ Friday, March 1^st:
Game 1:  Pace (No. 5 seed SW) 74, Franklin Pierce (No. 4 seed NE) 61
Game 2:  Southern Connecticut (No. 4 seed SW) 80, Stonehill (No. 5 seed NE) 75 

Quarterfinals ­ Sunday, March 3^rd:
Game 3:  Le Moyne (No. 1 seed SW) 86, Pace (No. 5 seed SW) 66
Game 4:  Southern Connecticut (No. 4 seed SW) 97, Saint Anselm (No. 1 seed NE) 87
Game 5:  New Haven (No. 2 seed SW) 70, Bentley (No. 3 seed NE) 69 
Game 6:  Merrimack (No. 2 seed NE) 83, Adelphi (No. 3 seed SW) 81 

Semifinals ­ Wednesday, March 6^th (at highest seeds remaining):
Game 7: Merrimack (No. 2 seed NE) 84 def. Le Moyne (No. 1 seed SW) 77
Game 8: New Haven (No. 2 seed SW) 87 def. Southern Connecticut (No. 4 seed SW) 66
 
Championship ­ Saturday, March 9^th (at highest seed remaining):
Game 9:  Merrimack (No. 2 seed NE) vs. New Haven (No (1:00 PM)
 
NE10 Championship History

• The Warriors have reached the NE10 championship game four times in their history. They own a record of 2-1 in their previous three attempts with wins coming in 1991-92 and 1999-00 while the loss occurred in 1985-86
• The Warriors lost their first appearance in the title game to Springfield 70-65 in the 1985-86 season. In 1991-92, the Warriors defeated Saint Anselm 92-77 for their first ever NE10 title. Senior Gary Duda took home MVP honors from that game. In 1999-00, the Warriors claimed a share of the regular season title and faced American International in the title game. The Warriors won that game, 84-78, behind junior Matt Van Leeuwen who won MVP.

Five Things to Know:

• Junior Juvaris Hayes led the Warriors to a 84-77 overtime semifinal victory over Le Moyne on Wednesday. He led both teams in scoring, rebounding and assists with a 28-9-9 line. With the effort, Hayes maintained his team lead in points, rebounds, assists and steals this season. Senior Ryan Boulter also chipped in with 22 points and five boards.
• The Warriors began their postseason run with an intense 83-81 victory over Adelphi in the quarterfinals. Hayes dominated Adelphi and put up 46 points which was one shy of the single-game tournament record in the NE10. In the semifinals, Le Moyne took the Warriors to overtime but Merrimack was able to prevail behind the strong play of Hayes. Hayes played all but two minutes of the game and played the entire overtime with four fouls as well.
• Hayes was named the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot on the all-league first team when the NE10 announced its all-conference awards on Tuesday. Boulter also received recognition on the all-conference third team, his second career all-conference nod. Hayes lead the NE10 in steals by a wide margin; his nation-leading 121 thefts are more than double (48) the next closest NE10 player. He also leads the league in field goals made (230) and is among the top five in the country in total assists and assists per game. Boulter's prowess is beyond the arc: the 3-point threat is the league leader in triples (93), and has scored at least 19 points 12 times this season (Merrimack is 10-2 in those games)
• Merrimack continues to be one of the best defensive teams in the conference. They lead the conference in steals per game (9.6) and blocks per game (4.1). The steals per game mark is good enough for 14^th in the country while the blocks per game rank 32^nd in the country. The Warriors also rank 1^st in the conference and 17^th in the country by forcing 17.52 turnovers per game.
• New Haven began their postseason run against Bentley which turned out to be a nail-biter. Elijah Bailey sunk three free throws with 10 seconds left to give New Haven the 70-69 victory. In the semi-finals, the Chargers beat cross-town rival Southern Connecticut State 87-66 behind 21 points from Roy Kane Jr.

Regular Season Rewind:

• New Haven pulled away from Merrimack in the second half of their regular season meeting. The Warriors fell to the Chargers, 67-55, back on January 23^rd.
• Hayes posted a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds but it was not enough to overcome the poor shooting that plagued the Warriors in the first matchup. The Warriors only shot 33.3% from the field and 19.2% from three which proved to be their undoing.
• Bailey led the Chargers with 21 points. Kane Jr. contributed 15 points and 8 boards to the host's win. 

Scouting the Opposition

Merrimack (21-9)	Stat Category	New Haven (20-8)
75.6	Points Per Game	74.0
67.2	Points Allowed Per Game	66.3
.464	Field Goal Percentage	.492
.358	Three-Point FG Percentage	.378
31.8	Rebounds Per Game	32.9
Juvaris Hayes (19.7 ppg)	Points Leader	Elijah Bailey (19.5 ppg)
Hayes (6.7 rpg)	Rebounds Leader	Kessly Felizor (7.2 rpg)
Hayes (6.6 apg)	Assists Leader	Quashawn Lane (3.5 apg)
Hayes (4.0 spg)	Steals Leader	Derrick Rowland (1.3 spg)
Idris Joyner (1.8 bpg)	Blocks Leader	Roy Kane Jr. (1.0 bpg)

 
Up Next:
If the Warriors win, they will be celebrating their third ever NE10 title in their final year in Division II. A victory guarantees a berth to the program's third straight NCAA Tournament via the NE10's automatic bid; the program appears to be in line for an at-large selection regardless of Saturday's result after being ranked fifth on Wednesday in the final edition of the NCAA Division II East Region poll.