Men's Basketball Drops NEC Opener to Fairleigh Dickinson

HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Merrimack College men's basketball team dropped its first game of Northeast Conference (NEC) play on Thursday night, 71-63. Jordan Minor was the leading scorer for the Warriors with 20 points. He also had 10 rebounds for his team-leading fourth double-double of the season. His sixth point of the night was also his 1,000th, making him the 16th player in program history with over 1,000 points and over 500 rebounds. Javon Bennett had a career-high 15 points after going 5-7 from the field. Ziggy Reid was the third Merrimack player in double figures with 14 points on the night.

The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 63, Fairleigh Dickinson 71
Records: Merrimack (2-13, 0-1 NEC) Fairleigh Dickinson (7-8, 1-0 NEC)
Location: Stratis Arena

Rapid Recap

• Merrimack opened the game on a 7-2 run capped off with a Mykel Derring three. After a Knight bucket, Reid hit his first three of the night putting the Warriors up six. Minor then scored on back-to-back possessions to put Merrimack up eight. With 11 minutes to go in the first Fairleigh Dickinson cut the lead down to three. Nick Filchner hit his first three to put the Warriors up four with 10 minutes to play in the first. After the Knights tied the game at 20, Filchner and Jordan McKoy hit threes on the next two possessions sending Merrimack up six heading into the under eight media timeout. After Fairleigh Dickinson got the deficit down to two, the Warriors went on a seven-point run making the lead nine. After runs by both teams Merrimack found themselves up six at halftime.
• Reid got the scoring going in the second half with a jumper, putting the Warriors up eight. Both teams then went back and forth for a number of minutes. The Knights then rattled off 10 straight points to flip the game and go up by one. Minor stopped the run with a layup, putting Merrimack back up by one. With nine minutes to play Reid hit a free throw to make it a one possession game. Fairleigh Dickinson then scored 12 unanswered points to go up 14. The Warriors answered by going on an eight-point run of their own, getting the lead down to six. After free throws from both teams, Merrimack ended up losing the game by eight.

Notes and Numbers

• The Warriors forced 17 turnovers and scored 17 points off of the turnovers.
• Reid also had six rebounds in the loss.
• Bennett had four steals in the defeat.

Up Next
 
The Warriors get back to action on Saturday when the squad heads to Wagner to take on the Seahawks. Game time is set for 1 p.m.