Men’s Basketball Loses Second Game of Cathedral Classic to Hofstra

Jack Lawhorne – Student Reporter

Philadelphia, PA – The Merrimack Men’s Basketball team took on the Hofstra Pride at the Palestra Saturday afternoon for their second game of the Cathedral Classic.

The Warriors dropped the first game of the tournament the day prior to Penn. MC shot just 14% (4–28) from three-point land to fall to 2–5, but Head Coach Joe Gallo remains confident in the group’s ability to shoot and unfazed by the losing record.

“This is the best shooting team top to bottom I’ve ever coached,” Gallo told me. “I don’t even click on our schedule early in the year, because I don’t want to see what our overall record is… I was watching our Troy game from last year… I looked at the bottom and it said Merrimack 1–6, and you don’t even remember that… you’re just going through the grind, and then you end up being prepared for conference, and you end up with your 18 to 20 wins.”

It’s safe to say that Joe Gallo is not worried, and if you’ve paid any attention to Merrimack Basketball during the Gallo era (the last decade), I’d argue that neither should you be.

1st HALF

At the 16-minute media timeout, Hofstra guard Preston Edmead, the brother of current Merrimack Warrior Malik Edmead, knocked down his second and his team’s third triple of the afternoon to give the Pride a 13–10 lead at the first pause in play. Tye Dorset, however, also hit two threes of his own for MC.

The Hofstra half of the Edmead bros. continued to lead his team in the preliminary stages as he extended the Pride lead to eight with three free throws thanks to a fouled three-point attempt before throwing a lob to Victory Onuetu.

The Warriors ended the Hofstra surge with a KC Ugwuakazi block turned into an Ernest Shelton mid-range jumper on the opposite end of the court. Merrimack continued to turn defense into offense as Kevair Kennedy elevated for an athletic interception and Ernest Shelton threw down a highlight hammer to force a Hofstra timeout.

But Merrimack hit a cold stretch out of the break.

While Kennedy was aggressive and effective as a slasher and defender, he was called for a questionable offensive infraction before picking up an early third foul on defense, and it forced Joe Gallo to take the freshman out of the game for the rest of the first half.

From 12:28 to 5:52 of the first half, Merrimack went without a point.

Luckily for the Warriors, though, they continued to defend solidly, as they held Hofstra to just eight points over the scoreless stretch that spanned over six minutes.

With 5:52 left in the first, Andres Marrero knocked down a triple to get Merrimack on the board for the first time in over an eighth of the game, and KC Ugwuakazi forced a Hofstra turnover on defense before earning himself a trip to the free throw line and hitting both.

MC had the deficit down to seven before Hofstra responded with a three from the corner, but Marrero had an answer of his own with his second trey of the day.

After a brutal offensive stretch from the Warriors, we were back to playing back-and-forth basketball, and Ugwuakazi continued to make a positive impact as he scored a nifty bucket in the post to cut the Hofstra lead to just five.

But the Pride answered with a mini run — scoring at the free-throw line, turning MC over for a jump hook, then forcing a travel and converting an and-1. Just like that, Hofstra pushed their lead back to 12.

Tye Dorset responded with his third three before Hofstra did the same, but Dorset refused to go away, knocking down his fourth triple of the half.

The Pride then closed the half with four unanswered points, sending MC into the locker room down 13, 43–30.

2nd HALF

Coming out of halftime, Merrimack's offense was able to consistently generate open three–point looks from penetration, and after missing two good looks from deep to open the period, Todd Brogna knocked down his next couple to bring the deficit back to single-digits and prompt a Speedy Claxton timeout.

But out of the timeout, Preston Edmead sank his third triple of the day to extend the Pride’s edge back to double-digits.

The Warriors once again fell victim to a cold stretch on offense, as they were unable to find the bottom of the netting for over four minutes after Brogna’s two triples. Hofstra took advantage and went on a 9–0 run to extend their single-digit lead to 18 and eventually as high as 23.

The rest of the game, MC was unable to dig themselves out of the hole, and Hofstra ultimately prevailed over the Warriors, 78–58.

TAKEAWAYS

While the Warriors played solid defense, the Pride still hit their shots, whereas MC didn’t… You aren’t going to win when you shoot 31% from the field and the other team shoots 46% and 43% from outside.

Silas Sunday was a problem for the Warriors all game — the seven-footer scored 15 points on 88% shooting, collected 7 rebounds, and blocked 3 shots. Hofstra outscored Merrimack in the paint 32–12, with Sunday setting the tone inside.

While early foul trouble limited him, Kevair Kennedy was aggressive and impressive when on the court. He recorded 10 points and 3 steals.

Brendan Johnson saw playing time in the closing minutes and scored a highlight driving layup.

Tye Dorset was good today. The sophomore guard shot 4 of 7 from deep and added 4 assists and 4 rebounds.

KC Ugwuakazi’s impact was prominent, as he saw the most big-man minutes and totaled 5 blocks along with 5 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Ernest Shelton and Todd Brogna continue to see good shooting looks — when they are hitting consistently, MC reaches another level on offense.

As mentioned on the broadcast, MC relies heavily on making threes — 35% of the Warriors’ points and 49% of their FGA come from outside (27th most in Division-1). But as highlighted earlier, Gallo remains unconcerned about his team’s outlook, and for good reason.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Warriors conclude the Cathedral Classic tomorrow, Sunday 11/30 vs. La Salle where they’ll look to avenge Andres Marrero against his former team. Following the tournament, Merrimack will return home to open MAAC play vs Rider at Lawler Thursday Dec. 4 at 7 pm