Men's Basketball Moves To First Place in NEC With Victory Over Sacred Heart

FAIRFIELD, CONN. – The Merrimack College men's basketball team took over sole possession of first place in the Northeast Conference on Saturday afternoon with a win over Sacred Heart University 67-55. Devon Savage had a career-high 21 points after knocking down seven threes. Jordan Minor earned his 12th double-double of the season after scoring 15 points and pulling down a 20 rebounds. Ziggy Reid also has 15 points in the victory.

The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 67, Sacred Heart 55
Records: Merrimack (13-16, 10-4 NEC) Sacred Heart (14-15, 7-7 NEC)
Location: Pitt Center

Rapid Recap

• The Warriors opened the game on a seven-point run which included threes from Savage and Javon Bennett. The Pioneers responded by adding six points of their own to go down by one. Merrimack responded with a five-point run to go up by nine. Jordan Derkack hit a three to push the lead to eight with 12 minutes to play in the first half. With six minutes to go Sacred Heart got the Warrior lead down to one. Savage would knock down a three to stop the run. Two minutes later the Pioneers would get it down to one once again. A Reid layup and Savage three would swell the advantage to six. A Nick Filchner three with a minute and thirty seconds to play would be the last bucket of the half, sending Merrimack up seven at halftime.
• A Sacred Heart three to start the second half would make the lead four points. The Warriors then went on a 16-point run to go up by 20 points. Minor would have eight points during the run. Back-to-back three would cut the lead to 14 points. Savage would then find the bottom of the net with a three to push the advantage back up to 17 points. Savage would hit another three with six and a half minutes left in the game to make the lead 18. The Pioneers would battle back getting the lead down to nine with three and a half minutes to play. The comeback effort was not enough from Sacred Heart, the Warriors would win the game by 12.

Notes and Numbers

• Savage took nine shots during the game, all of them from three, he made seven.
• Merrimack out rebounded the Pioneers 43-32.
• Merrimack forced 16 turnovers.

Up Next
The Warriors get back to action on Thursday night in North Andover against Central Connecticut State University. Game time is set for 7p.m.