Men's Basketball Welcomes River Hawks for Final Regular-Season Showdown Saturday
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Full Game Notes
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – With four games to go in the regular season, the Merrimack men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of Hammel Court to play host to Northeast-10 Conference rival UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors will have hopes of avenging an earlier blowout loss in Lowell while also snapping a two-game losing streak after battling No. 10 Saint Anselm to a 94-83 defeat on Wednesday. UMass Lowell finds itself alone in sixth place in the NE-10 standings. The River Hawks announced this week of a planned reclassification to Division I, meaning that this winter will mark the end of the UMass Lowell era in the NE-10.
Merrimack and UMass Lowell are meeting for the 59th occasion in all-time history. The Warriors have gone just 1-4 against the River Hawks in their last five tries, including a 100-73 blowout road defeat earlier this year.
Barring a Merrimack postseason berth, this will be the final meeting in the foreseeable future between the Warriors and River Hawks. Earlier this week, the UMass Lowell athletic department announced its intentions to reclassify to Division I starting next academic year, meaning that the heated Merrimack-Lowell rivalry will likely come to an end at the conclusion of Saturday's showdown.
Last season, Merrimack split its two-game set with UMass-Lowell. In the first game, the River Hawks edged the Warriors, 68-66, on the road on Dec. 3, 2011, before the Warriors returned the favor with a thorough 74-57 victory at Hammel Court on Feb. 11. Merrimack still holds a slim lead in the all-time series with a 30-28 overall record against the River Hawks dating back to 1966-67.
In Merrimack's last outing, the Warriors trailed by just points late in regulation against the 10th-best team in the country, but Saint Anselm caught fire from downtown in the waning minutes of the game, as the Warriors fell, 94-83, in a Northeast-10 Conference road thriller on Wednesday night at Stoutenburgh Gym.
Merrimack was paced by a pair of 20-point scorers, as freshman Gelvis Solano and senior Mike Clifford led the way offensively with 23 and 20 points, respectively. Freshman JT Strickland also hit double-digits with 13 points – all coming in the first half. Senior Tyler Young, meanwhile, led the way down low with a team-leading 13 boards while completing his double-double performance with 10 points, as well.
Saint Anselm carried its offensive first-half momentum into the start of the second half, as a 3-pointer from Don Mallios pushed the home side's lead to a game-high 14 points, 65-51, with 16:23 to go. But a trey from Solano brought the deficit to single digits, and five minutes later a layup from Tyler Young cut it to 70-65 with just under 12 minutes to go in the contest.
Merrimack did not relent from there, as both sides responded time and time again to stay within a two-possession game. That culminated through the final minutes of the second half with Merrimack trailing by just two at one point, when Morse responded with his biggest 3-pointer of the game to push the home side up by seven, 86-79, with 2:24 to go. One more back-breaking 3-pointer later from McCahey, and the win was sealed for the home side, as the Warriors gave the 10th-ranked team in the country all it could handle before eventually falling.
After starting the year 9-3 through its first 12 games, UMass Lowell has gone 5-5 over its last 10 contests since the turn of the New Year. Most recently, the River Hawks snapped a three-game losing streak with a 74-63 road victory over Stonehill on Wednesday night.
Last season, the River Hawks advanced to the Northeast-10 Championship game before falling to Stonehill. UMass Lowell was predicted to finish in the runner-up spot again this year according to the Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Three players average double-digit scoring figures for UMass-Lowell, highlighted by junior guard Akeem Williams. The Brockton, Mass., native leads all NE-10 players with 19.2 ppg on 44.9 percent shooting from the floor and a 41.7 percent rate from long range.
Along with Williams, junior guard Antonio Bivins and senior forward Matt Welch have paced the offense as well. Bivins averages 16.5 ppg while hauling in 7.1 rpg to compliment a team-best 46 steals and 23 blocks, while Welch ranks just behind in scoring (13.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg).
As a team, the River Hawks rank among the top five in scoring (75.8), as well as all shooting categories. UMass Lowell ranks fifth in overall shooting (44.5), fourth in 3-point shooting (36.5), and fifth in free throw shooting (72.3). The River Hawks have struggled down law, ranking 13th in total rebounding (35.0) and last in rebounding margin (-3.1). UMass Lowell also owns the worst scoring defense in the league, one that allows 73.5 ppg to the opposition.
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