NORTH ANDOVER, MA - The Merrimack men's basketball team looks to open MAAC play with a 2-0 start when it hosts Fairfield on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Lawler Arean.
THE LATEST
• Merrimack opened MAAC opened MAAC play with a 68-66 win over Rider on Thursday night. Andrés Marrero scored a career-high 23 points, making 9-of-14 field goals and 4-of-9 3-pointers and freshman Kevair Kennedy played all 40 minutes and scored 19 points for his eighth-straight game in double figures.
• The Warriors look to win their first two MAAC conference games for the second-straight year. Merrimack won its first five conference games in its first season in the MAAC last season. The Warriors went on to finish 14-6 overall, good for second place in the league, and advanced to the MAAC semifinals. Merrimack has won 16 of its first 23 games against MAAC teams since joining the league.
• Andrés Marrero's career-high of 23 points on Thursday night's win over Rider was his fifth double-figure scoring game of the season. The grad student transfer from La Salle has made 7-of-17 (.411) 3-pointers in the last three games and has made 32-of-66 (.485) field goals in the last seven games.
• Merrimack is playing just its third home game of the season, after playing eight of the first nine games away from Lawler Arena. Merrimack is 3-0 playing within 30 miles of campus, with home wins over Maine and Rider and a victory at BU.
• The Warriors traveled over 12,500 miles in the first month of the season/
• Division II transfer Ernest Shelton, who averaged 17.4 points and 4.5 rebounds for Gannon University last season, is leading the Warriors in scoring at 15.5 points per game, which is seventh in the MAAC. He has scored 20 or more points three times, and in double figures in eight of the 10 games. Shelton tied a school record for three-pointers in a game, with 9 in the win at BU and has a 3 in every game.
• Kevair Kennedy is second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.3 ppg, which ranks 13th in the conference. He has scored in double figures in nine of his 10 collegiate games. He leads Merrimack and is 12th in the conference in assists (3.1 apg) and ranks 8th in the league in steals (1.9 spg). Kenndy has been huge in the Warriors four victories, averaging 18.5 ppg. He came two assists shy of a triple-double in the win at BU (16 pts, 11 rebs, 8 assists). Kennedy scored a career-high 23 points in the win over Maine and had 16 points, 6 assists and 5 steals in the win vs. La Salle.
• The Warriors defense is giving up 63.0 ppg in its 2 MAAC games and 62.7 ppg in its last 3 wins.
• Merrimack tied the MAAC record for 3-pointers in a game, making 19 at BU.
