Men's Basketball Defeated By #24 Rutgers

Piscataway, NJ. –  The Merrimack College men's basketball team dropped a mid-week non-conference matchup to Rutgers University on Wednesday night 74-63. Adam "Budd" Clark scored a team-high 22 points to lead the way for the Warriors.

The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 63, #24 Rutgers 74
Records: Merrimack (1-3) | #24 Rutgers (4-0)
Location: Jersey Mike's Arena

Rapid Recap

• The Scarlet Knights scored the first six points of the game to go up two possessions. Bryan Etumnu stopped the run with a layup. Rutgers then added a jumper to go back up six. Matt Becht hit a three to put Merrimack down three. The Scarlet Knights responded with a three of their own to maintain the six-point advantage. Down eight five minutes into the game, Armandas Plintauskas hit a three to put Merrimack down five. David Murray scored to cut the lead to three. Clark went on a personal four-point run to get the lead down to one. Both teams battled for number of minutes. With nine minutes left in the first half, Clark hit a jumper to put the Warriors down three. Clark then added two free throws to make it a one-point game. Rutgers got the lead back up to five. With six minutes to go in the first, the Scarlet Knight lead was seven. Rutgers went into halftime up seven.  
• Rutgers would get the scoring going in the second half to go up 10. Clark would drive the lane for two getting it back down to eight. The lead went between 10 and eight for a number of minutes. The Scarlet Knights found themselves up 12 with 15 minutes to play. Sean Trumper scored four straight points to cut the lead down to eight. With 10 minutes to play in the game the Scarlet Knights advantage swelled to 13. A Tye Dorset three with five minutes to play got the lead down to 11. Devon Savage and Trumper scored on back-to-back possessions to get the advantage down to seven. The Warriors could not compete the comeback and would lose the game by 11.
   

Notes and Numbers

• Clark finished the game with six assists and four rebounds.
• Merrimack forced 11 turnovers in the loss, scoring nine points off giveaways.
• Trumper was the only other Warrior in double figures with 10 points in the loss.

Up Next
Merrimack stays on the road to take on Butler University. Game time is set for 7 p.m.