2006 NE-10 TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND #8 Merrimack Rallies Past #9 Franklin Pierce, 63-60
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.