Men’s Basketball Comeback Cut Short Against Mount St. Mary’s

North Andover, Mass. – The Merrimack College men's basketball team was beat by Mount St. Mary's on Friday night 66-58. Four Warriors finished the game in double figures. Matt Becht led Merrimack scores with 13 points. Both Adam "Budd" Clark and Devon Savage had 11 points. Bryan Etumnu added 10 points in the defeat.


The Essentials
Score: Merrimack 58, Mount St. Mary's 66
Records: Merrimack (11-10, 8-2 MAAC) | Mount St. Mary's (12-9, 5-5 MAAC)
Location: Lawler Arena

Rapid Recap

• The Mountaineers scored the first four points of the game. Sean Trumper stopped the run after a drive to the hoop for two. Mount St. Mary's added a three to go up by five. Two free throws made the lead seven. After two Trumper free throws, Etumnu knocked down a three to cut the lead to two. The Mountaineers added two threes to go back up by eight. Becht found the bottom of the net with a three to get the advantage back down to five. Mount St. Mary's then scored four straight points to increase the lead back to nine. Armandas Plintauskas hit a thee to make it a two-possession game with 10 minutes to go in the first half. The Mountaineers scored 11 straight points to take their biggest lead of the game. Becht stopped the run with a layup. Both teams battled back and forth until halftime. The Warriors found themselves down 15 heading into the break.
• Mount St. Mary's got the scoring going in the second half, going up 17. Etumnu hit his second three of the game to get the lead down to 14 points. The Mountaineers would be up 21 with 15 minutes to play in the game. Merrimack then jumped on a 10-point run to make the deficit 11. A Clark three with 10 minutes left in the game got the lead down to just 10 points. Savage found the bottom of the net from deep to make it a three-possession game. Both teams battled for a number of minutes. Tye Dorset knocked down his first three of the game to make the deficit six. With five minutes left, Becht stroked a three to make the lead three. After a Mount St. Mary's jumper, Dorset hit his second three of the half to make it just a two-point margin. The Mountaineers added five points to go up seven with two minutes to play. Free throw shooting down the stretch from Mount St. Mary's would sink the Warriors change of a comeback.   
   

Notes and Numbers

• The Warriors forced 19 Mountaineers turnovers and scoring 18 points off the giveaways.
• Trumper had a team-high 10 rebounds in the loss.
• Merrimack had 11 steals in the game. Clark led the way with four.  

Up Next
The Warriors get back on the road to take on Rider University. Game time is set for 4 p.m. on Sunday.