Merrimack Men’s Basketball Avenges Iona, Clinches MAAC Title

Jack Lawhorne — Student Reporter

NORTH ANDOVER, MA —The Merrimack men’s basketball team (20–9, 16–2 MAAC) clinched the top spot in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Sunday afternoon with a double-overtime win over the Iona Gaels (16–13, 8–10 MAAC).

With the win, the Warriors also avenged a one-point buzzer beater loss in New Rochelle from exactly one month ago for one of Merrimack’s only two conference losses this season.

Most importantly, the win gives the Warriors the No. 1 seed in the MAAC and a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Freshman guard Kevair Kennedy, the frontrunner to win MAAC Player of the Year, stuffed the stat sheet in the win, scoring 20 points and adding 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 steals, and a block.

But the star of the game was Todd Brogna. Brogna scored 13 points (5–11 FG) with 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals, and 5 blocks.

The Warriors found themselves down 77–71 in the final minute of the first overtime and with just a 12% chance to win the game according to ESPN, but Brogna sank a clutch three in the extra period for the second game in a row to keep the Warriors in the contest, before forcing a shot clock turnover on defense which led to three game-tying free throws from Andres Marrero to send it to double overtime, where the Warriors eventually pulled out the win.

In the second overtime with just a minute left, Brogna drove to the basket late in the shot clock and finished through multiple defenders to give the Warriors a 4-point lead.

With 20 seconds remaining, Brogna assisted on a dagger three from Ernest Shelton, and from there the Warriors won the game at the free throw line and on defense.

“He’s just come so far, and he’s played such a huge role for us,” Head Coach Joe Gallo said of Brogna following the win. “I mean, some of those late-clock backdoor passes — there’s not another guy on our team that can throw those passes.”

The Warriors will close the regular season out on the road at Canisius Friday and Niagara Sunday before heading to Atlantic City to compete in the MAAC Tournament, where they’ll try to win the program’s first ever MAAC Championship and clinch the program’s first ever berth in the NCAA Division I Tournament.

EXTRA NOTES

Andres Marrero was +14 in a game won by just 2 points, as pointed out by Head Coach Joe Gallo following the game.

Tye Dorset and Kevair Kennedy played all 50 minutes. Ernest Shelton and Todd Brogna also played over 40 minutes, while Andres Marrero played over 39 minutes.

KC Ugwuakazi blocked 3 shots. He also went a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

The Warriors had 6 double-digit scorers.

The Warriors scored their second highest total of the year, only behind 91 at Boston University.

The Warriors dominated the Gaels in the turnover battle 12–4, and scored 16 points off of those turnovers to just 2 by the Gaels.

CJ Anthony (Iona) scored 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 from downtown.