Links: Box Score | Postgame Comments (Joe Gallo)

NEWARK, N.J. –  The Merrimack College men's basketball team beat the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Thursday night 61-52. Ziggy Reid scored 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in the victory. Mikey Watkins chipped in with 11 points. The Warriors led the entire game after the Highlanders scored the first bucket. Merrimack shot 40% from long range knocking down nine threes, eight of them in the first half alone. The highly active zone defense caused 20 Highlander turnovers, including 12 steals. Jordan Minor had three swipes on the night.

The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 61, NJIT 52
Records: Merrimack (2-0) | NJIT (0-1)
Location: NJIT Wellness and Events Center |Newark, N.J.  

Rapid Recap

• The Warriors came out on fire knocking down their first two threes. Mykel Derring had both for Merrimack. Devin Jensen and Reid swapped threes on back-to-back offensive possessions to give the Warriors an eight-point lead. Jensen hit his second three to put Merrimack up 11. With eight minutes to play in the half, Reid knocked down a floater and Malik Edmead scored on a fast break layup to go up 10. NJIT cut the advantage to seven. The Warriors answered with a Reid three ball to go back up 10. The Highlanders mounted a comeback to cut the lead to four. At the end of the half Watkins hit his first three of the game with 27 seconds to go up nine. The next time up the court Reid hit a three at the buzzer to give the Warriors momentum and a 12-point lead heading into halftime.
• Merrimack scored the first five points of the second half. Minor and Jensen combined for the run. Watkins knocked down a jumper to put the Warriors up 17 with 16 minutes left in the game. With under 10 minutes to play NJIT cut the lead to 10 after a three found the bottom of the net. Both teams battled back and forth. With just under six minutes left the Highlanders cut the lead down to seven, which is as close as NJIT would get. The Warriors knocked down their free throws and ended up winning the game by seven.

 
Notes and Numbers

• Reid earned the first double-double of his career, with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
• The Warriors shot 70% from the free throw line. Minor went 7-9 from the charity stipe.
• Merrimack had 14 points in the paint and 12 points off of turnovers  

Up Next
The Warriors stay in the Garden State to take on Rutgers on Saturday afternoon. Game time is set for 2 p.m. and can be seen on the Big Ten Plus network.