Men's Hoop Wins Fourth Straight, Shuts Down
Merrimack
BOX
SCORE
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Sam Carey (Manchester,
NH) totaled 23 points and matched his career high with 18 rebounds
as Southern New Hampshire University posted a 73-48 Northeast-10
men's basketball victory over Merrimack College at the SNHU
Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon. The Penmen, who won their
fourth straight and seventh out of nine, improve to 9-7 and 6-6 in
the NE-10, while the Warriors are now 10-7 and 5-7 in the league.
Carey finished 10-11 from the floor
and had a double-double in the first half (15 pts, 11 rebs).
Gerald Carter (Harlem, NY) finished with 13 points
and four assists, while Troy Bowen (Nashua, NH)
added 12 points and six rebounds. Darin Mency was the lone
Merrimack player in double figures as he totaled 13 points.
The Warriors, who entered the game
as the top-scoring team in the Northeast-10 and 12th in Division II
(87.0 ppg) were held to nearly 40 points below their season
average. Merrimack had previously not scored fewer than 75
points in any game. Veteran Merrimack head coach Bert Hammel
was also denied his 400th career victory, as he entered the game
with a career mark of 399-384.
Southern New Hampshire led 38-25 at
halftime but Merrimack would chip away at the Penmen lead and a
Darren Duncan basket with 11:41 remaining made it 51-44. SNHU
would proceed to score 16 unanswered points and a layup by
Chase Miller (Fairfax, VA) with 4:08 to go made it
67-44 as the Warriors missed nine straight shots. A basket by
Mency with 3:22 left stopped the Merrimack drought but the guests
would miss eight of their final nine attempts from the floor, going
just 2-18 over the final 11-plus minutes.
Merrimack would score the game's
first two baskets, but the Penmen answered with 11 straight points
to take an 11-4 lead 4:30 into the game on a basket by Carey that
gave SNHU a lead it would not relinquish. A 10-1 spurt gave
the hosts a 25-7 lead on a Carey layup with 9:21 before halftime
and the Penmen would take their largest lead of the half with just
under three minutes left in the period on a pair of free throw by
Carey that made it 38-19. SNHU held a 38-25 lead at the
break.
SNHU shot 60% in the first 20
minutes and 56% for the contest while holding Merrimack to 26.9%
shooting in the game. The Warriors were also successful on
just two of their 20 three-point attempts. Southern New
Hampshire also owned a commanding 48-29 rebounding advantage.
Southern New Hampshire
University returns to action Monday when it travels to Nyack
College for a 7:00 non-conference game.
