Junior guard Patrick Shea keys men's basketball past Merrimack, 80-68, in NE-10 matchup

February 13, 2008

ASSUMPTION 80, MERRIMACK 68

WORCESTER, Mass. --- All five starters reached double figures as the men's basketball team outgunned Merrimack College, 80-68, in a key Northeast-10 Conference game at the Laska Gym Wednesday.

Junior guard PATRICK SHEA (Salem, MA/Salem) scored 18 points and added six assists and two blocked shots while doing yeoman defensive work on the Warriors' DARREN DUNCAN (Briarwood, NY/Christ the King). Duncan had 33 points in the first meeting between the two teams this season . . . a 92-91 overtime win by the Hounds. This time he was limited to five points on 2-for-13 shooting in a 30-minute stint.

As a team the Greyhounds had 10 blocked shots and outrebounded the Warriors, 47-38.

The Greyhounds have won five of their last seven games to improve to 18-7 overall and 12-6 in the conference. They host Stonehill College (11-7) Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in another key conference matchup. Merrimack is now 14-10 and 9-10.

Sophomore guard COURTLAND BLUFORD (Ft. Washington, MD/St. Vincent Pallotti) added 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and a steal in superb support performance, while senior forward GREG TWOMEY (Groton, MA/Groton-Dunstable) (13 points, 8 rebounds), senior forward MIKE FOTI (Franklin, MA/Franklin) (11 points, 6 rebounds), senior forward COREY DIETHORN (Pittsburgh, PA/Sewickley Academy) (10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocked shots) and off-the-bench junior guard MITCH BAJEMA (Whitinsville, MA/Whitinsville Christian) added nine points.

Twomey now has 953 points and will undoubtedly soon become the 37the member of the Greyhounds 1,000-point club. Diethorn, who scored his 1,000th point this past Saturday at Saint Rose, now has 1,024, two more than Hounds' Hall of Famer Ronnie Goba ?58 in 32nd place.

The Greyhounds led 30-29 at the half on the strength of a Diethorn free throw with 29 seconds left. Bluford (9 points) and Foti (8 points) led the offense.

After sophomore JARED BROWNLEE (Portland, ME/Portland) converted an offensive rebound with 15:03 left to make it 49-48, the Hounds went on a 17-4 run to essentially put it away at 66-52.

Diethorn started the spurt with an inside move and Twomey followed with a lane jumper. Bluford's offensive rebound putback made it a seven point game, 55-48, with 13:11 left.

The Warriors' freshman guard DARIN MENCY (Hagerstown, MD/St. John's Catholic Prep) drained a pair of free throws before freshman forward MIKE BALDARELLI (Sutton, MA/Holy Name) made the second of two free throw attempts and Bluford and Twomey followed with layups sandwiched around a senior guard MICKY BURTNYK (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Vista) driving layin for Merrimack.

Baldarelli then created an in-the-paint floater, Diethorn made two free throws and Shea added a third as the Hounds led 66-52.

Burtnyk led the Warriors with 20 points including three three pointers, while Mency finished with 13 points. Junior forward CHRIS WINTERS (East Lyme, CT/St. Thomas More) added a double-double 10 points, 11 rebounds.

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