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| Sophomore Daniel Heppert scored a career-high 14 points and added seven rebounds in Stonehill's 79-75 win over Merrimack. |
Double-Doubles Power Skyhawks Past Merrimack, 79-75
Easton, Mass. - Double-doubles from sophomore Mike Kernan (Medford, N.J.) and junior A.J. Rudowitz (Monroe, N.J.) helped Stonehill knock visiting Merrimack from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 79-75 win over the Warriors on Wednesday evening at Merkert Gymnasium.
Merrimack, who entered the game at 5-0 and averaging nearly 90 points per game were held 15 points below their nightly average thanks to the Skyhawks' dominance on the glass and 50 percent shooting. Stonehill pounded the boards, collecting 53 rebounds compared to 28 for the Warriors who made just 39 percent of their shots.
Most of the inside damage was done by Rudowitz (15 points and a career-high tying 15 rebounds) and Kernan (13 points, 12 rebounds), who got help from Colin Scanlon (Centreville, Va.) (eight points, seven rebounds and four assists) and Daniel Heppert (Richmond, Va.) who finished with a career-high 14 points and seven rebounds.
The Skyhawks set the tone in the first half as they outscored Merrimack 26-8 in the paint in the first 20 minutes as the Warriors struggled to find their outside touch.
Freshman Roland Davis was the lone Merrimack player to have any success, as he went into the half with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. The rest of his team was a frigid 5-for-23.
Stonehill, on the other hand, was scorching, making 51 percent of its field goal attempts to lead by as many as 14 before settling for a 43-31 halftime edge.
The lead was trimmed to six following a Davis three and a conventional three-point play by Darren Duncan a little more than a minute into the second half. Stonehill then ran off 13 straight points over the next four minutes capped by an inside layup by Randall Stallworth (Toms River, N.J.), making the game 56-37 with 14 minutes to go.
The Warriors, however, refused to go away as Duncan scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the final 20 minutes, while his backcourt mate, Darin Mency, had 14 of his 18 over the same time frame.
A three from Duncan, a pair of free throws from Mency and a fast break finish by Davis had the Stonehill lead down to four with 17 seconds left.
Rudowitz split a pair from the charity stripe and Mency canned a long triple, slicing the Skyhawks' lead to 77-75 with nine seconds left but a Stallworth breakaway basket on the inbounds pass sealed the Stonehill victory.
Stallworth finished with six points, three rebounds and seven assists, while Matt Hall (Springfield, Mass.) added 10 points and Nick Smith (Colonia, N.J.) chipped in with 11 off the bench.
Duncan, who played all 40 minutes and Mency, who logged 38, combined to shoot just 13-for-38 from the field.
Stonehill now sits at 6-1 overall and 3-1 in Northeast-10 action and host Assumption on Saturday.