Warriors comeback after trailing
by as much as 12 early in second half to advance to
quarterfinal at top-seeded Bentley
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.
(February 25, 2006) - Eighth-seeded Merrimack College
erased a nine point halftime deficit to collect a 63-60 victory
over ninth-seeded Franklin Pierce in first round action of the 2006
Northeast-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, presented by
Anaconda Sports, this afternoon.
Merrimack (15-13, 12-10 NE-10)
advances to Monday's quarterfinal round when it visits top-seeded
Bentley College (20-7, 17-5 NE-10) at 7 p.m. Franklin Pierce
(13-15, 10-12 NE-10) sees its season come to a close having dropped
eight-straight.
Merrimack's backcourt duo of senior
Bobby Murgo (Watertown, Mass./Watertown)
and junior Kenny Jones (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free
Academy) combined for 33 points (24 second half) to
lead the way for the Warriors. Jones netted a game-high 17 points
(14 second half) on six-of-11 shooting from the field, including
3-5 from three-point range, to go with five rebounds. Murgo
finished with 16 points (ten second half), five assists and two
steals.
Sophomore Gerry
Corcoran (Norwell, Mass./Norwell) added ten points
(seven first half), four rebounds and four steals, while senior
Bruno Zanotti (Asuncion, Paraguay)
chipped in eight points, six boards and two steals.
Senior Justin Powell
(Brookline, Mass./Brookline) scored 14 of his
team-best 16 points in the first half as he hit 8-of-13 from the
field to go with three rebounds. Junior Sean Mayo
(Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) notched his second
double-double in the span of a week with 12 points and a game-high
12 rebounds (four offensive). Junior Darryl Minnifield
(Boston, Mass./Brookline) chipped in eight points,
five boards, two assists and two steals off the bench.
Merrimack scored 15 points off 12
second half turnovers by Franklin Pierce, finishing with a 22-10
advantage in points off miscues for the contest. The Ravens hit
50-percent (27-54) of their shots from the field for the day, but
just 29.4% (5-17) from three-point range. The Warriors shot 41.2%
(21-51) from the floor, including 50% (12-24) in the second half,
and outscored Franklin Pierce 13-1 at the free-throw line.
Merrimack trailed by a game-high 12
points (40-28) after a Jack Barrett (Reading,
Mass./Andover) fast break lay-up off his own steal
just 1:06 into the second half. The Warriors responded with a 12-0
run, sparked by a Murgo three-pointer and four points from Jones to
knot the game at 40-40 with 14:10 to play.
Freshman Timothy Munch
(Blauvelt, N.Y./Storm King Prep), who finished with
eight points, drained a three-pointer to put the Ravens up four
(51-47) with 8:54 on the clock. Franklin Pierce's lead was two
(53-51) after a Mayo hook shot with 7:44 to play, but Merrimack
responded with four-straight points, capped by a Murgo jumper to
take their first lead in over 20 minutes of play (55-53) with 4:20
to go.
Minnifield answered with a
three-pointer as the Ravens regained the lead (56-55) with 3:54 to
go, but Mayo missed the front end of a one-and-one and Merrimack
got a three-pointer from Jones before Murgo hit three free-throws
after he was fouled in the act of shooting a three to give the
Warriors a five-point lead (61-56) with 1:06 to play.
Sophomore Joseph
Chatman (Boston, Mass./BC High) scored on a drive to
the basket to pull Franklin Pierce within three, and then Powell
drew the Ravens within a point (61-60) with a turnaround with
23-seconds left.
After Murgo buried two free-throws
to put Merrimack back up three with 12.2-seconds to go, the Ravens
got off two three-pointers in the closing seconds, but attempts
from Munch and Minnifield were off the mark as time expired.
Franklin Pierce closed out the
first half with a 13-2 run to take a nine-point lead (35-26) into
the locker room after a Mayo tip-in at the buzzer. The stretch,
which included an 11-0 run after a Ravens timeout, answered a 9-0
Merrimack spurt sparked by back-to-back three's from Murgo that
gave the Warriors a two-point edge (24-22) with 4:53 to play in the
stanza. Merrimack didn't net a field goal the rest of the half,
getting its final two point with a pair of Zanotti free throws with
39.9 ticks on the clock.
Powell scored 12 of the Ravens
first 18 points over the first 11 minutes of the contest as
Franklin Pierce held a five-point lead (18-13) midway through the
half.
BOXSCORE
