Men’s Basketball Takes Down Saint Francis on Senior Night

NORTH ANDOVER, MASS. – The Merrimack College men's basketball team beat Saint Francis on Thursday night 71-60. Graduate student Samba Diallo finished the game with a team-high 14 points and six rebounds. Adam "Budd" Clark dropped 13 points and dished out five assists in the victory. Both Jordan Derkack and Jordan McKoy finished the game with 11 points.

The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 71, Saint Francis 60
Records: Merrimack (18-10, 12-2 NEC) | Saint Francis (8-19, 3-11 NEC)
Location: Lawler Arena

Rapid Recap

• The Warriors started the game on a 10-point run. Diallo had a quick six points. The Red Flash finally scored with 14 and a half minutes to play in the first half. Clark found the bottom of the net with a jumper to put Merrimack up 11. Saint Francis battled back to cut the lead down to four points with nine minutes to go before halftime. McKoy then knocked down a three to push the advantage up to seven. After seeing their lead get down to five, the Warriors went on a seven-point run to go up 12. Saint Francis would get the lead down to seven with four minutes to go in the half. Scores from both Clark and Derkack increased the Merrimack lead to 12. The Red Flash scored four unanswered points to end the first half to had into the locker room down by eight.
• The second half opened with both teams trading buckets on back-to-back possessions. Merrimack then scored six points off of threes from Bryan Etumnu and Devon Savage. Saint Francis would go on a run of their own to slice the lead down to seven. Etumnu stopped the run with a dunk. Derkack would hit three free throws to swell the lead to 12 with 11 minutes to play. The Red Flash would once again get the lead down to single digits. The Warriors then went on a seven-point run to make the lead 15. Both teams then battled, trading baskets on a number of possessions. With three minutes to play Merrimack was up 16. Saint Francis finished the game on a six-point run, but it was not enough to beat the Warriors on Thursday night.

 
Notes and Numbers

• Derkack finished with a team-high seven assists.
• Merrimack scored 21 points off of 20 Red Flash turnovers.  
• Savage finished the game with nine points after knocking down three threes.
• Merrimack has now won eight straight games in Lawler Arena dating back to last season.

Up Next
The Warriors get back to action a week from today at FDU. Game time is set for 7 p.m.