Warriors beat Marist to remain in a first-place tie atop the MAAC
Merrimack 68, Marist 55
The Warriors stayed locked in a first-place tie atop the MAAC standings on Monday, earning a 68-55 road win over Marist.
“They’ve got some good paint guys, we knew we were going to give up some shots in the paint,” Merrimack head coach Joe Gallo said. “But we wanted to make them tough 2s, not just lay-ins. It was a great game, both teams really defended.”
Merrimack is now 8-1 in MAAC play, tied with Saint Peter’s, which beat Iona on Monday to improve to 8-1 as well. At the moment, the Peacocks hold the tiebreaker thanks to their 76-63 win over the Warriors on Jan. 11, but the teams will get one more crack at each other this Saturday at Lawler Arena.
Before that, Merrimack travels to Iona on Thursday.
The Warriors were paced by Kevair Kennedy (20 points) and Ernest Shelton (18), with Kennedy reaching the 20-point mark for the sixth time in his last 10 games. Tye Dorset added 17 points.
“In the first half, it was a little rocky, but my teammates, they were knocking shots down and that opened up the floor for me, and made it easy,” Kennedy said.
Merrimack’s next test comes at Iona, which sits at 4-5 in MAAC play (12-8 overall) and enters Thursday on a two-game losing streak. Saint Peter’s win over the Gaels on Monday kept the Peacocks tied with the Warriors atop the conference standings
.