The Merrimack men’s basketball team, which secured the top seed in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), is set to face ninth-seeded Sacred Heart on Friday at 6 p.m. at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Sacred Heart enters the matchup after a 91-80 victory over Iona in the first round. Merrimack, with a record of 21-10 overall and 17-3 in conference play, captured its fourth regular season conference championship since joining Division I seven years ago. This year marks their second season competing in the MAAC.
Head coach Joe Gallo commented on his team’s success: “Merrimack cleaned up on MAAC Postseason Awards with freshman Kevair Kennedy becoming the first-ever MAAC men’s basketball Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season. Joe Gallo was named MAAC Coach of the Year and KC Ugwuakazi was named Defensive Player of the Year. Kennedy and Ernest Shelton were both named First-Team All-MAAC. Merrimack women’s coach Kelly Morrone also won Coach of the Year, the 8th time in 44 years that a MAAC school has swept the Men’s & Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year Awards.”
Merrimack’s performance this season includes defeating every other team in their league and achieving a conference record of 31-9 since joining last year, which is four games better than Quinnipiac and six ahead of Marist.
Freshman Kevair Kennedy has been recognized as both Player and Rookie of the Year by earning two Player of the Week honors and seven Rookie of the Week selections. He leads all players in scoring at 18.5 points per game overall, averaging an even higher rate during conference games. Kennedy has consistently scored double figures, missing that mark only once during his collegiate career so far.
First-Team All-MAAC honoree Ernest Shelton, who played high school basketball alongside Kennedy at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia, is second on Merrimack’s roster for scoring with an average of 15.9 points per game.
The Warriors have maintained strong momentum late into their schedule by winning nine out of their last ten games and going 19-4 over their past twenty-three contests.
Statistically, Merrimack remains undefeated when scoring seventy or more points this season. The team leads its conference—and ranks among national leaders—in turnover margin (+3.00), steals (8.10 per game), scoring defense (67.5 points allowed per game), three-point field goal defense (30.5%), and blocks (4.9 per game). Their defensive strategy has limited opponents to more than sixty-six points just six times across their last twenty-three games.
The winner between Merrimack and Sacred Heart will advance further into MAAC tournament play as teams vie for an automatic berth to postseason competition.
