Wagner beats Merrimack 54-47 in Northeast Conference Championship Game

NORTH ANDOVER — Maybe Wagner is a team of destiny?

The Seahawks were limited to just seven players due to injuries and had to beat the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 seeds in the NEC Tournament, all on the road, to capture the NEC Championship and a berth in next week's NCAA Tournament.

The Seahawks defeated the Warriors 54-47 in the NEC Championship game at Lawler Arena, ending Merrimack's bid for its second conference championship and first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"I'm super disappointed for these guys," said Merrimack coach Joe Gallo. "This is the most enjoyable team I've ever coached. If you watched a practice in July and then watched shoot around today they are the same, fun energetic group. Great attitudes. No B.S. Just a fun group. I feel really bad that I couldn't help them find a couple more easy shots."

The Warriors attempted 38 3-pointers — the most they have in a game all season — and finished 10 for 38. The second most 3-point attempts were two weeks ago in the regular-season finale when the Warriors dropped a game at Sacred Heart.

"I thought we settled a bit too much on offense," Gallo said. "The threes, it just went that way. They went to their zone and they did a good job of mixing it up. They had us a little off balance. ... We got into our offense a little late and the next thing you know, there's six seconds left on the shot clock and we're just trying to get a shot. We're never a 'don't take that shot' type of team, but we got into the late clock too many times. It wasn't the plan to take that many."

Jordan Derkack played 34 minutes on an injured ankle and finished with six points. He was picked up by Devon Savage, who led the Warriors with 16 points.

"[Derkack] has been in and out of ice buckets and hot tubs," Gallo said. "There was no way he wasn't going to play. You knew he'd be in there and giving it his all. It was just unfortunate timing for him to have that when he did."

Added Savage, "Everybody knew we had to step up and play our roles. Derk going down, that gave us more motivation to have his back and play as hard as we can."

Due to a run of injuries, the Seahawks only had seven healthy players dressed.

By December, the Seahawks had lost six players, including four starters. Three players on their roster — Tahron Allen, Javier Ezquerra, and Melvin Council, Jr. — played all 40 minutes.

"We haven't mentioned [the injuries]," said Wagner coach Donald Copeland. "I told guys all year, I'm tired of hearing it. That's what you tell losers when you want them to feel better. It's not an excuse. We needed to maintain our culture and defend in this game and every game in the tournament. This run, it's been more about the opponent than where we were playing them and we maintained our culture throughout."

Wagner is now off to the NCAA Tournament. They'll find out their fate on Sunday during the NCAA selection show.

The Warriors are left to process the sudden end to a terrific season. Merrimack posted its most D-I wins (21-12) and best NEC record (13-3).

"This season has meant everything to me," Savage said. "Going to March Madness would have been my dream. But it didn't end the way we wanted it to. I just know that next year, we gotta bring it back."

Packed Lawler was as loud as ever

Despite the result, kudos to the Merrimack community for showing up. Lawler Arena was as loud as ever, and the place was packed. There was no official attendance number as of this writing, but my guess is that it gave the local fire marshall some anxiety.

"I'd take those crowds all the time," Gallo said. "You couldn't hear anything. It was a great atmosphere.

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