Men’s Basketball Downs Long Island Saturday

 NORTH ANDOVER, MASS. – The Merrimack College men's basketball team took down Long Island University on Saturday afternoon 83-68. Bryan Etumnu finished the game with a career-high 18 points after going six of eight from the field. Etumnu also had five rebounds, four blocks and three steals. Jordan Derkack added 18 points in the victory. Adam "Budd" Clark finished the game with 17 points, six assists and four steals.

The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 83, Long Island 68
Records: Merrimack (17-10, 11-2 NEC) | Long Island (6-19, 5-8 NEC)
Location: Hammel Court

Rapid Recap

• The Sharks got the scoring going first with a jumper. Etumnu then found a lane for a dunk to tie the game at two. A Derkack three would give the Warriors a three-point lead. The Sharks then scored four straight points to go up by one. Jaylen Stinson answered back with a layup of his own to give Merrimack back the lead. Both teams went back and forth, tying the game at 13. Two free throws from Derkack at the 10-minute mark put the Warriors down by one. With just a little under eight minutes to go in the first half the score was tied at 22. Merrimack then scored three straight points, highlighted by a dunk from Elliott Black. Long Island would fight back to tie the game at 25. Stinson would find the bottom of the net with a jumper to put the Warriors up two with four minutes to play. Both teams traded buckets on two straight possessions, tying the game at 29. Four points from the Warriors would send the home team up four with under a minute. The Sharks scored five points before halftime to head into the locker room up by one.
• Back-to-back threes from Etumnu and Devon Savage to open the second half, gave Merrimack a five-point advantage. After a three at the 17-minute mark, the Sharks made it a two-point game. The Sharks then scored seven unanswered points to take a nine-point lead. After a Long Island bucket, Merrimack added seven more points to take its biggest lead of the game at 14. The Sharks scored five points to cut the advantage down to nine. The lead was back to 14 at the nine-minute mark. Back and forth play from both teams dropped the lead down to 10 points with seven minutes to play. Six free throws from Merrimack swelled the lead to 17. Long Island battled back to get the lead down to 11 with two and a half minutes left in the second half. Go free throw shooting down the stretch would give the Warriors a 15-point win.

 
Notes and Numbers

• Samba Diallo finished the game with seven points and five rebounds.
• Merrimack scored 28 points off of 22 Shark turnovers.  
• The Warriors shot 51% from the field in the victory.  

Up Next
Merrimack gets back to action on Thursday night in Lawler Arena against Saint Francis. Game time is set for 7 p.m.