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St. Mike's Men's Basketball Suffers 68-60 Loss to Merrimack

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Created on Wednesday, 07 December 2011 02:52

Written by George Commo

Knights Drop Fourth Close Decision of Season

Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information

COLCHESTER - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team finished its first-semester home slate with a 68-60 setback to Merrimack College on Tuesday in a Northeast-10 Conference contest at the Ross Sports Center. The Purple Knights fell to 3-6 overall and 3-3 in the league, as four of their losses have been sustained by eight points or less, while the Warriors are 6-4 and 3-3.

Sophomore Mike Holton Jr. (Portland, Ore./The Winchendon School) led Saint Michael's with 13 points and five assists, while junior Travis Warech (Pine Brook, N.J./Montville) notched his second career double-double behind 12 points and a career-best 11 rebounds, as well as contributing four helpers. Freshmen James Cambronne (De Bary, Fla./The Winchendon School) and Dom Ditlefsen (Portland, Ore./Sunset) added eight points apiece, with Cambronne also hauling in six rebounds.

Merrimack senior Roland Davis (Deer Park, N.Y./Saint Dominic's/College of Charleston) led all scorers with 24 points, hitting four three-pointers, in addition to grabbing eight rebounds. Classmate Wayne Mack (Paterson, N.J./Paterson Catholic) had 15 points.

The Purple Knights scored the first seven points before the Warriors countered, forging ahead 18-15 on sophomore Kevin Regan's (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) three-pointer with 9:32 remaining in the opening half. Merrimack led by as many as four points, at 20-16 with less than eight minutes remaining, but Saint Michael's went on a 13-2 run to go up 29-22 by 3:18. Freshman Corey Crawford (Dover, Del./The Phelps School) had five of the points, including the go-ahead three-pointer, before Ditlefsen and Warech followed with triples of their own. Mack's three-point play with 5.4 seconds remaining cut the Saint Michael's lead to 31-29 at halftime.

The hosts pushed ahead 40-35 on Warech's two freebies with 14:51 to go in the game before Mack and Davis turned in three-point possessions to put the visitors on top, but a Cambronne hoop later provided the Purple Knights with a 45-42 edge before Davis' three knotted the game at 10:57. Another Cambronne bucket was met by one from Davis, and Mack scored the final five points in a 7-0 run that gave the Warriors the final lead. After Cambronne scored again to bring his team within 57-53 at 5:32, Merrimack used a 9-2 run to pull away.

The Purple Knights head to New Jersey to face Caldwell College on Saturday, Dec. 17, at 1 p.m.