Merrimack Men's Hoops Playing For NEC Tournament Title On Tuesday

NORTH ANDOVER, MA —Fans at Tuesday night's Northeastern Conference Men's Tournament championship game in North Andover could be treated to the rare sight of two teams celebrating at the end of the game.

At 7 p.m. at Lawler Arena, No. 1 seed and NEC regular-season champ Merrimack (17-16) will host No. 2 seed Fairleigh Dickinson (19-14) in a title contest that will be shown live on ESPN2.

However, with Merrimack in just its fourth year of Division I basketball, the Warriors remain ineligible for the NCAA Tournament and NIT due to rules governing transitioning teams. Merrimack finally becomes eligible to the Big Dance next season.

So, Fairleigh Dickinson will be representing the NEC in the NCAA Tournament regardless of Tuesday's result.

After Merrimack's 71-60 win over Sacred Heart in Saturday's NEC Tournament semifinal, Warriors head coach Joe Gallo was not complaining about the situation. In fact, he said he was thankful that last spring the NEC had made a change to its policies and allowed the Warriors to compete in the 2023 conference tournament.

"We went in (to the season knowing) we can't go to the NCAA Tournament, we've never been a program that complained about that. We know what we signed up for," Gallo said. "So, that's what it is. Everyone has always asked 'how do you keep these guys motivated?' They just motivate themselves. It's always been about 'who do we play next?'"

The win over Sacred Heart was the Warriors 10th in a row, as the team has bounced back after a 2-12 start to the season. The rough period did include losses to power conference schools like St. John's and Providence, and quality opponents like Bradley and San Francisco.

Gallo said his team improved by competing against those strong opponents, and that his players have maintained the same focus throughout the campaign.

"One thing I will say, if you watched a summer practice, if you watched a mid-December practice after nine or 10 straight losses or you watched our shootaround (ahead of the semifinal), you would not be able to tell which game was on which day," Gallo said. "The guys just stayed within it and the energy has been great. Good for them for staying with us."

Merrimack has beaten every team in the NEC this year except Tuesday's opponent Fairleigh Dickinson. The Knights topped the Warriors 71-63 on Dec. 29 in Hackensack ,New Jersey, and FDU won 78-71 when the teams met on Jan. 28 at Hammel Court.

The Knights feature three players averaging between 14 and 16 points per game: Demetre Roberts (16.7 ppg), Grant Singleton (14.4 ppg) and Ansley Almonor (14.1 ppg).

The Warriors, meanwhile, boast the NEC Co-Player of the Year in Jordan Minor, who shared the honor with Josh Cohen of St. Francis (Pennsylvania).

Minor, a senior forward, had 18 points and 12 rebounds in the semifinal win over Sacred Heart. Merrimack freshman guard Javon Bennett had 17 points and five assists in the contest and senior guard/forward Ziggy Reid added 15 points.

Though they can't play in the NCAA Tournament or NIT, Merrimack would be eligible for the lesser College Basketball Invitational (CBI), a 16-team tournament that takes place March 18-22 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

In 2019-20, Merrimack's first season in Division I, the Warriors also won the NEC regular-season title, but were ineligible for the NCAA Tournament and NIT. There was some talk about the Warriors competing in the CBI or the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, which no longer exists. However, the entire postseason was canceled due to COVID-19.