Men’s Basketball Tops Fairfield in Conference Matchup

North Andover, Mass. –  The Merrimack College men's basketball beat Fairfield University on Friday afternoon in Lawler Arena 67-54. Devon Savage was the leading scorer with 21 points after knocking down seven threes. Adam "Budd" Clark ranked second on the Warriors, scoring 18 points. Bryan Etumnu was the third Warriors in double figures with 10 points in the victory.

The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 67, Fairfield 54
Records: Merrimack (6-8, 3-0 MAAC) | Fairfield (5-9, 1-2 MAAC)
Location: Lawler Arena

Rapid Recap

• The Stags got the scoring going in their first offensive possession. Clark then answered with a two of his own to tie the game. The Warriors then added eight straight points to go up by eight. Fairfield stopped the run with a layup. Savage then found the bottom of the net, not once but twice, to put Merrimack up 12. The Stags hit a jumper to get it down to 10. Savage then knocked down another three, his fourth of the half to put Merrimack up 13 with 13 minutes to play in the stanza. Clark then drove the lane for two, increasing the advantage to 15. Both teams battled back and forth, with five minutes to play in the first half, the Warriors found themselves up 13. After a small Stag run, Malik Edmead hit a three to put Merrimack up 14 with two minutes left. After teams traded buckets in the final minute, the Warriors headed into halftime up by 14.
• Fairfield scored the first three points of the second half to get the Merrimack lead down to 11. Savage then got back to shooting knocking down back-to-back threes to put the Warriors up by 17. Clark added a layup to swell the lead to 19. The Stags added five points to get it back down to a 14-point deficit. Matt Becht and Savage hit two threes in two possessions to make it a 20-point Merrimack advantage. The lead was 23 with eight minutes to go in the game after an Etumnu dunk. The junior big man then had another dunk with swell the lead to 25 points. Fairfield went on a six-point run to get the lead under 20. The Stags attempted a comeback late in the second half, but the Warriors proved to be too much Friday afternoon, winning the game by 13.

Notes and Numbers

• Merrimack forced 15 turnovers and scored 16 points off the giveaways.
• Since it's first season (2021-22) the Warriors are 17-6 all-time in Lawler Arena.  
• Edmead finished with seven points and four assists.  

Up Next
The Warriors play their next game a week from today at Sacred Heart. Game time is set for 11 a.m.