Senior guard Kinard Dozier tosses in 12 points and sparks late rally with six points

BOXSCORE

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (February 16, 2011) -- The Franklin Pierce University men's basketball team dropped a 75-61 decision at Merrimack on Tuesday night at Volpe Gymnasium in North Andover, Mass. The Ravens dipped to 6-19 overall and 4-16 in the Northeast-10, while the Warriors improved to 12-12 and 8-12 in league play.

A trio of Ravens scored in double-figures, led by sophomore guard Eric Jean-Guillaume (Stamford, Conn.), who tossed in 16 points, while handing out three assists and swiping a steal. Senior guards Jeff Manchester (Gorham, Maine) and Kinard Dozier (Dedham, Mass.) followed with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Manchester grabbed nine rebounds, while Dozier collected five boards of his own.

Aaron Strothers and Wayne Mack paced Merrimack's offensive attack with 23 and 20 points, respectively. Darin Mency chipped in with 17 points.

Merrimack opened the game by scoring six-straight points and would never trail the entire game in pulling out the victory.

The Warriors led by as many as 11 points on three occasions during the first half in building a 34-26 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

Merrimack continued to add to its lead in the second half and went up by 15 when Mack knocked down a triple with 6:53 remaining to make it 58-43.

The Ravens tried to fight back and went on an 11-2 run over a three-minute span to pull within six at 60-54. Dozier scored six-straight points to kick-start the rally, while Jean-Guillaume followed with a three-pointer and junior forward Adedamola Abu (Mattapan, Mass.) capped it with a layup.

However, that was as close as Franklin Pierce would get as Merrimack answered by scoring 13 of the next 15 points to take a 17-point lead and put the game out of reach.

Merrimack shot 44 percent from the field (27-of-61), while limiting Franklin Pierce to just 33 percent shooting (24-of-73). The Warriors also held a 47-38 advantage on the glass.

Franklin Pierce returns to action Saturday when the Ravens play host to Bentley at 3:30 p.m. in The Fieldhouse in Rindge.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men's basketball, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceAthletics).