Todd Brogna reached double-digit assists tonight; the first Skyhawk to do so in over six years. (PHOTO BY Crystal Ayn Hadberg)

EASTON, Mass. (February 15, 2024) – Stonehill men's basketball dropped a Northeast Conference matchup as Merrimack College scored the final eight points of the game to win 66-63 at Merkert Gymnasium Thursday night.

LEADERS

• Grad student Max Zegarowski (South Hamilton, Mass.) scored a team-high 19 points while notching six boards and two assists in 37 minutes for the Skyhawks.
• Freshman Todd Brogna (Southborough, Mass.) tallied 10 assists; the first time a Skyhawk has had double-digit assists this season. He also grabbed eight rebounds, scored six points, and recorded three steals.
• Sophomore Tony Felder (Brockton, Mass.) matched Brogna's team-high eight rebounds while scoring 12 points, dishing three assists, and swiping two steals.
• Merrimack was led by five-time NEC Rookie of the Week Adam "Budd" Clark who scored 29 points on 12-22 shooting to go along with six assists and two steals.

FIRST HALF

• The Warriors jumped out to an 8-0 lead as the Skyhawks missed their first five shots before a layup from senior Thatcher Stone (Winchester, Mass.) got Stonehill on the board after five scoreless minutes.
• The Skyhawks trailed by as much as 11 points, 17-6, nearly halfway through the first half but responded with a 14-3 run to make the score 23-20.
• Junior Nathan McGill (Dillsburg, Pa.) sparked the run with four straight points followed by six points from Zegarowski while two other Skyhawks chipped in during the scoring outburst.
• Merrimack halted the Stonehill run, scoring the next six points but the Skyhawks kept it close after a three from Felder and a layup from freshman Louie Semona (Cincinnati, Ohio) sent the teams into the halftime break with the Warriors leading, 31-25.

SECOND HALF

Max Zegarowski scored 19 points tonight, the 11th time he's scored 15+ this season. (PHOTO BY Jim Pierce)

• Senior Jackson Benigni (East Hampton, Conn.) scored the opening bucket of the second half, sinking a three as Stonehill began the final 20 minutes of action with a 15-7 run capped off by a spinning, step-back three-pointer from Felder to give the Skyhawks their first lead of the game, 40-38.
• After taking the lead with 15:58 on the clock, Stonehill led for the next five-plus minutes before Jordan McKoy netted a three-pointer for the Warriors to put them back in front, 48-47.
• The two NEC foes went back and forth for the next eight minutes before Zegarowski slipped behind the defense for a backdoor layup as Brogna continued to feed his teammates to give the Skyhawks a 61-56 lead with 3:10 left in the game.
• Felder knocked down a pair of free throws to keep Stonehill in front by five points, but Merrimack scored the final eight points of the game to secure the road win, 66-63.

NOTEWORTHY

• Stonehill is now 74-49 all-time against Merrimack having lost four straight matchups with the Warriors. This is the last matchup against the Warriors as NEC opponents as Merrimack will be transitioning to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) next season.
• Despite the Skyhawks having rolled out 12 different starting lineups this season, tied for the fifth-most in the country, Stonehill has now used the same five for seven straight games.
• Brogna's career-high 10 assists are the most for a Skyhawk since KJ Lee tallied 11 in a 93-71 win over Saint Michael's on Feb. 6, 2018. No Skyhawk had reached double-digit assists in over six years.
• Brogna also matched his career-highs of eight rebounds and three steals while Felder matched his career-high of eight rebounds for the third time this season.

UP NEXT

• Stonehill travels to Syracuse, N.Y. to take on Le Moyne on Saturday at 2 p.m. with the game being broadcast digitally on ESPN+ and televised on the YES Network.

Tickets for the 2023-24 men's and women's basketball season are on sale now and can be purchased at stonehillskyhawks.com/tickets.

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