BOX
SCORE
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - Darren Duncan totaled 24
points as third-seeded Merrimack College held off a late rally by
11th-seeded Southern New Hampshire University to post an
80-72 win in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Men's Basketball
Championship Monday night at Volpe Gym. The Warriors improved
to 20-7 overall and will host seventh-seeded UMass Lowell, a 76-63
upset winner over No. 2 Bentley, Thursday night in the NE-10
semifinals. The Penmen see their season come to a close at
15-14.
Duncan was 12-14 at the free throw
line and also totaled eight rebounds and six assists. Roland
Davis was 7-14 from the floor and finished with 17 points, while
Darin Mency added 11 points and knocked down a key late three.
Tory Stapleton
(Rahway, N.J.) finished with a career-high in scoring for the
second straight game for Southern New Hampshire, totaling 28 points
on 11-20 shooting while also grabbing 15 rebounds, matching a
career-high in that category. Hanell Velez
(Woburn, Mass.) made three three-pointers and finished with a
career-best 15 points, while Stephen Wood (South
Jamaica Queens, N.Y.) recorded 12 points and eight rebounds.
After trailing by as many as 15
points in the second half, the Penmen used a 9-0 run to climb
within six, 66-60, with just over five minutes to go on a layup by
Stapleton. With 1:09 left, Stapleton converted a conventional
three-point play to pull SNHU within three, 73-70. Duncan
would respond with a layup to make it a 75-70 game with just under
a minute to go.
On the other end, Josh
Morgan-Green (Upper Marlboro, Md.) worked his way into the
lane for a layup with 42 seconds to go to make it 75-72. On
the next Merrimack trip, Duncan would penetrate and dish out to
Mency, who knocked down a wide-open three to make it 78-72 with 22
seconds to go. The next Penmen trip would come up empty and
Davis would seal the win with a layup.
Down 35-29 at halftime, SNHU opened
the second half on an 11-0 run and a three by Velez with 17:14 left
gave the Penmen a 40-35 lead. Merrimack responded with an
11-0 run of its own and a layup by Tyler Young with 12:54 left put
the Warriors up 46-40. The hosts would build a 15-point lead,
64-49, with 8:12 left on a layup by Davis.
Southern New Hampshire jumped out
to a 10-0 lead 5:16 into the game on a layup by Stapleton, but the
Warriors worked their way back into the game, using a 13-2 run
capped by a basket by Duncan 4:48 before halftime to take a 25-21
lead. The Penmen responded with a 6-0 spurt and back-to-back
layups by Wood gave SNHU a 27-25 lead. Merrimack closed the
half on a 7-0 run and a three by Mack at the buzzer put the hosts
up 35-29 at the break.
The Penmen held a commanding 45-28
rebounding advantage on the evening, including a 19-7 edge on the
offensive glass, but were just 13-25 at the free throw line, while
Merrimack converted 26 of its 31 trips to the charity stripe.
SNHU head coach Stan Spirou was
denied in his first bid to record his 500th career
victory. He will enter the 2010-11 season with a career mark
of 499-249.
