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Men's Hoops: Purple Knights Drop 56-48 NE-10 Heartbreaker at Merrimack

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Created on Wednesday, 15 February 2012 04:11

Written by George Commo

Warriors score the final eight points of the game

Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team stood tied with Merrimack College with a little more than a minute remaining before yielding the final eight points of a 56-48 loss on Tuesday in a Northeast-10 Conference contest on Hammel Court.

Now 9-15 overall and 8-12 in the league, the Purple Knights are two games shy of the 10th and final NE-10 Tournament spot with two contests remaining. The Warriors are 14-10 and 11-9.

Sophomore Mike Holton Jr. (Portland, Ore./The Winchendon School) notched 13 points, four assists and four rebounds for the Purple Knights, while freshman Corey Crawford (Dover, Del./The Phelps School) had 11 points. Senior Tyler Schilling (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka) provided 10 points and four boards, and freshman James Cambronne (De Bary, Fla./The Winchendon School) had nine points and eight caroms.

Junior Mike Clifford (Danvers, Mass./Bishop Fenwick) paced Merrimack with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and senior Wayne Mack (Paterson, N.J./Paterson Catholic) totaled 13 points. Classmate Wilfredo Pagan (Lawrence, Mass./Central Catholic) went 3-for-4 from three-point range, pacing his squad's 6-of-11 showing, while finishing with nine points, six rebounds and five assists.

After a 7-0 run put the Warriors up by a 48-45 count, Crawford canned a tying three-pointer with 2:25 remaining in the contest. However, senior Aaron Strothers (Wareham, Mass./Marianapolis Prep) hit a jumper with 1:04 to go, and Saint Michael's missed four shots during the closing 41 seconds, while Merrimack went 6-of-6 on free throws.

Schilling capped an 8-0 run that gave the Purple Knights an early 10-4 advantage, and the visitors ballooned a later 13-11 edge to 27-16 on a Crawford jumper with 4:04 remaining in the opening half. Schilling had six points in the 14-5 run. Merrimack scored the next eight points before Crawford beat the halftime buzzer with a bucket. The visitors led at intermission, 29-24.

Clifford hit two freebies at 18:59 of the second half to bring his team within 29-26, and neither squad led by more than four points again until Mack hit a pair of free throws with 22 seconds remaining.

The Purple Knights play their final two regular-season contests at home, beginning with a Senior Day match-up with Saint Anselm College on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.