I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby jksander » Fri Dec 24, 2021 1:59 am

Incidentally I really am concerned about Mike Brown. Even though he is only a freshman, I worry that his nomination for the Norton Award and the fact that he has CLEARLY been overshadowed by senior Center Bill Ellis, is neutering his ability to handle himself in game situations. That, and he's got a 45% relationship with me as a coach and a 35% relationship with the team. Until Gary finds a way to beef up the "Coach Relationships" function to allow us to do more than bitch at players for having bad attitudes, there's no good way to repair a relationship like this. He's starting, averaging 30 minutes a game, but he's just NOT a good point guard. If I could call him up and stroke his ego, maybe ... but that's not an option :(

Looking like next year may be essentially a rebuild, since my two incoming players are not (on paper) likely to shoot the lights out. We'll see which underclassmen DO step up ...
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby PointGuard » Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:43 am

Ellis is a stud...both in scoring and rebounding. What's he averaging thus far?

BUT..what happened to him? All of a sudden he's MIA. I couldn't find anything that explained. An injury? If so, what and for how long? Drug overdose? Drafted into Israeli Army? Gone fishing?
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby jksander » Fri Dec 24, 2021 3:55 am

PointGuard wrote:Ellis is a stud...both in scoring and rebounding. What's he averaging thus far?

BUT..what happened to him? All of a sudden he's MIA. I couldn't find anything that explained. An injury? If so, what and for how long? Drug overdose? Drafted into Israeli Army? Gone fishing?


Ellis missed four games due to pulled groin in late November.
Brown has been still playing 30 mins a game but has faded away.
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby jksander » Wed Dec 29, 2021 2:45 am

PointGuard wrote:What's he averaging thus far?


Just got logged back in after a few days stuck working too much ... Ellis is averaging 32.2 ppg 11.9 rpg and 2.6 apg through 13 starts, having missed four of our 17 games due to that injury.
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby jksander » Wed Dec 29, 2021 4:38 am

January 23, 2022
St. Francis (NY) (5-12, 2-4) @ Merrimack (13-4, 5-1)

St. Francis got out to a 2-5 lead early, but our fans are becoming quite the noisemakers, and the pressure shook them quickly. We led 9-7 with 15:39 remaining in the half, thanks to a Bill Ellis jumper and free throw, and though the lead would change a few times from there, our players held their ground. Up 25-21 with 9:37 left in the half, we cracked down defensively and took the game over. We would outscore them 22-5 the remainder of the half, leading in blowout form 47-26 at the break. The second half wasn’t anything particularly showy, but we didn’t let them anywhere near a comeback story. In the end it was a decisive 91-61 win we could add to our resume.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (25 pts 10 reb 5 ast 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Mike Brown (12 pts 3 reb 2 ast 1 stl) Sam Keating (11 pts 3 reb 2 ast 2 stl 2 blk)

January 26, 2022
Merrimack (14-4, 6-1) @ Sacred Heart (5-13, 3-4)

[Off Topic: The real-world mod abbreviates Sacred Heart as SHART. Now you know.]

Sacred Heart scored the game’s first six points, leading 2-10 with 16:38 to play in the half. But a 19-foot jumper by Bill Ellis capped a 17-8 run on our part, giving us the lead 19-18 with 11:34 remaining, and this game was a thing! A 9-2 run from there put us firmly in control, and though they at one point fought back to within three, we led by double figures up 53-43 at the break. Ellis, who had 27 points in the first half, stayed hot in the second, but we needed all his scoring to keep us comfortably ahead – the Pioneers kept fighting back to within single digits, then we’d build it back, and so it went. With 10:26 to go we held a 76-61 advantage, our biggest of the game that far, and from there we broke it open. The deep reserves came in with six minutes to go and us up by 21. We’d go on to win easily, 92-75.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (47 pts 14 reb 3 ast 1 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Sam Keating (11 pts 2 reb 1 ast) Vince Rawlings (10 pts 2 reb 2 ast 1 blk)

January 29, 2022
The Norton Award Top 30 has been announced, and as expected Mike Brown is not on the list. It remains a mystery why he was nominated and Bill Ellis was not … Ellis would clearly be a front-runner had he made the cut.

January 30, 2022
Fairleigh Dickinson (9-10, 7-1) @ Merrimack (15-4, 7-1)

Central Connecticut remains undefeated, but we get our chance to play the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson today for the chance to take firm control of second position in the conference race, so there’s a lot riding on our energy in front of a raucous home crowd. The two games we get against the Knights plus our last shot against Central Connecticut will be our only remaining chances to impress the tournament committee before our conference tourney – the rest of the Northeast this year is a quagmire of mediocrity. And even two wins against the Knights might not help us much, with their sub-.500 record coming into this game overall.

This game was never close. We led 14-4 four minutes in, and despite the Knights proving to be quite a strong scoring team down the stretch of the half, we were definitely stronger. At the break we led 55-45, and we opened the second half on a 10-1 run in the first 2:30. It wasn’t close – we won this one in a 96-78 blowout, moving one step closer to the top of the Northeast.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (42 pts 17 reb 5 ast 4 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Sam Keating (14 pts 1 reb 2 ast 2 stl) Rashard Crosby (13 pts 3 ast 1 stl)

February 2, 2022
Central Connecticut (13-7, 8-1) @ Merrimack (16-4, 8-1)

On Monday night, Central Connecticut lost a stunner to the Long Island Sharks by a 72-90 margin, so our rematch here will do more than give us a chance to move into a tie for first. It will give us a chance to take sole possession of the top spot in the conference! We’ve won eight in a row since losing to them on their court 79-90, and we’ve spent this week building ourselves up for a grudge match for the ages.

They drew first blood with a pair of threes, but we answered with a 9-3 run of our own to tie this f---er with 16:03 to play in the first half. A Sean Keating dunk gave us the lead shortly thereafter, and we kept the momentum going in our favor, leading 15-9 with 14:20 to play. Six minutes in Ellis was in double figures scoring, and we dismantled them from there. After scoring nine points in the first four minutes of the game, the Blue Devils were held scoreless for six and a half minutes before a free throw put our lead at 27-10. And they wouldn’t score from the field until Ross Roberts nailed a three at the 7:34 mark, at which point we led 32-13. Hardly a fair fight, it would seem. By halftime we were up 45-29, a score made closer only by the minutes we’d given our bench players which let the play catch-up. A 12-2 run to open the second half put the nails in, and we’d coast from there to a dominating 83-48 defensive win.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (28 pts 15 reb 1 ast 4 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Mike Brown (14 pts 1 reb 1 ast 1 blk) Vince Rawlings (9 pts 1 ast)

February 6, 2022
#24 Merrimack (17-4, 9-1) @ Saint Francis (PA) (8-13, 3-7)

Say hello to the first national ranking in program history! We’re not yet ranked in the Coaches Poll, and our NET ranking has slipped to #21 thanks to our weak conference, but the fact that we’re still considered to have such a tough-played schedule says a ton about how the computers are valuing our initial 8-3 run before conference play.

We control our destiny at this point, but we’re not going to have a lot of margin for error either. Eight games plus the conference tournament stand between us and the NCAA Tournament, and every team in the conference from here on out is going to want to spoil our shot.

Case in point, tonight’s game. We played sluggishly at the start and St. Francis scored the first five points, and with 14:12 to play in the first half we were down 2-8 in a defensive slugfest. We’d fight back to tie it 8-8 with 12:29 to play, and we took a 12-11 lead on a Mike Brown free throw moments later. But we didn’t look like a top-25 team. We kept fighting and with 3:45 to play we still held a 31-30 lead, and we’d outscore them 13-7 down the stretch to lead 44-37 at the break.

We squandered the momentum, however, and St. Francis fought back to the lead briefly before Ellis hit a 9-footer with 15:36 to play putting us back ahead 48-47. They then retook the lead, built it to six, and we clawed back again. Vince Rawlings made a pair of free throws with 7:30 to go, giving us back the 60-59 advantage, but their home crowd was emboldened and we’d need everything we had to put this one away. With free throws, and then a Vince Rawlings triple that silenced the crowd for the first time in the half, we started to expand our advantage, leading 65-59 – our biggest lead since the break. But they wouldn’t quit, and we seemed to be running on fumes. Up 68-67 with just 3:16 to play, we steeled ourselves for the finish. They’d briefly tie it at 70, but we held tough from the line and made all the key free throws to make sure this one stayed in the win column, 80-70 – a game that was far closer than the margin would indicate.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (18 pts 12 reb 3 ast 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Mike Brown (21 pts 2 reb 1 blk) Vince Rawlings (9 pts 1 ast 1 blk)

February 9, 2022
Mount St. Mary’s (8-14, 4-7) @ #24 Merrimack (18-4, 10-1)

This one was the opposite of the last game, as we powered our way to a 25-15 advantage with just over ten minutes left to play in the first half, with our bench putting up enough points midway through the half to keep us well ahead even with Ellis and Brown starting out a bit tight. Ellis would finish the half with 16 points, most of them scored down the stretch, and we led 53-34 at the break. The second half was never in doubt, and we won it easily with a solid all around performance, 83-63.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (29 pts 12 reb 3 ast 2 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Sam Keating (10 pts 5 reb 1 stl 1 blk) Joel Mattox (10 pts 5 reb 1 ast 1 blk)

We rose two spots in the Media Poll this week, though the Coaches apparently think we’re overrated – they’ve yet to vote us onto their poll. We’ve maintained our one game lead in the conference over Central Connecticut and Fairleigh Dickinson, but our next opponent, on the road, will be the Long Island Sharks (15-8, 7-5) who stand firmly in fourth place. Theirs, I suspect, will not be a friendly arena when we play on Monday. With the final third of the conference season left to play, any stumble will put our lead position in doubt, and any of the top four teams could make a run.
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby jksander » Wed Dec 29, 2021 4:51 am

For those of you interested in Bill Ellis' overall efficiency, here are his stats through the first 23 games of the season (19 of which he has played in):

MPG: 28.1
PPG: 31.8
RPG: 12.4
APG: 2.8
SPG: 1.0
BPG: 1.7

Per 40 Minutes, however ...

PPG: 45.2
RPG: 17.6

He has scored 604 points with 235 rebounds and 54 assists against 33 turnovers. His overall PER rating is 54.9, against a usage percentage of 48.8%

FG: 142/238 (59.7%
3PT: 5/20 (25.0%)
FT: 315/362 (87.0%)

I'm not sure how remarkable that free-throw stat is, but it looks pretty wild considering how well he gets to the line (an average of 16.6 of 19.1 from the line on a game by game basis) plus the fact that in 19 STARTS he has a total of 45 PERSONALS. I wish I was gonna have him for another year, but if this is all we've got, here's to a trip to the NCAAs and a win or two ;)
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby jksander » Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:35 am

February 13, 2022
#22 Merrimack (19-4, 11-1) @ Long Island (15-8, 7-5)

The Sharks started strong but we quickly asserted our dominance by fighting to a 12-9 lead with 13:56 to play in the half. The game stayed tight, thanks to the Shark Sharpshooters on their offense, but we kept ourselves in position to lead. With 7:31 remaining, Bill Ellis got a dunk, foul and free throw combo to put us up 29-26, but Long Island was a worthy adversary down the stretch. Tied 40-40 with less than a minute to go, we managed to outscore them 7-1 down the stretch to lead 47-41 at the half.

We opened the second half on a 12-3 run in the first four minutes, and that broke things open – with 12:11 to play we led the Sharks by a widening 65-46 margin. They still had time to make something happen, but our defense said they wanted nothing to do with that. We led by 22 with 5:58 to play and coasted to a key win, 85-67.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (41 pts 10 reb 3 ast 4 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mention: Mike Brown (19 pts 2 reb 5 ast 1 stl)

February 16, 2022
#22 Merrimack (20-4, 12-1) @ Bryant (8-16, 4-9)

Bryant won the opening tip and held a lead on us 4-3 for all of a minute and a half before we put up a 13-2 run to go up 16-6 with 15:11 left in the first half. They would several times find their way back to within single digits but we kept the hammer down and never let them really get close. With 7:10 to play we led 37-26, and then the wheels came off. They fought back to battle us within a single possession, back and forth down the stretch though we didn’t relinquish the lead until :32 remained and they knotted us 47-47. Josh Cabrera, playing off the bench, nailed an 18-footer with seconds to spare which allowed us to go into the half ahead 49-47, but we definitely had our work to do.

Bryant kept it nailbitingly close from there, but they couldn’t get the lead and we kept firing from every direction to keep it in our hands, ahead 60-56 with 14:30 remaining in the game. They knotted it at 66-66 two minutes later, but we fired off nine points in a row unanswered to build our largest lead since the midpoint of the first half, 75-66 with just over ten minutes to play. But they never showed an ounce of quit, and with 5:55 to go we were up only by one, 82-81. Ellis, who had already set a career high for points, was keeping us in this one despite being clearly gassed – we just couldn’t afford to let up! A 10-foot jumper by the big man, after a series of clutch free throws, built the lead back to eight, up 90-82 with four minutes left, putting him past 50 points for the first time! At that point we were able to let him rest, counting on the rest of the team to keep the lead intact. We held tough down the stretch and put down Bryant 98-86.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (54 points 22 rebounds 5 ast 2 stl 3 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Rashard Crosby (15 pts 1 reb 3 ast) Mike Brown (12 pts 6 ast 1 stl 1 blk)

Fairleigh Dickinson pounded Central Connecticut tonight 93-83, putting the Knights alone in second, with the Blue Devils slipping to third at 11-3 in the Northeast. The Knights are on a five game win streak, and they look to be dangerous when we face them on the road in the final game of the regular season.

We finally cracked the Coaches Poll at #21, while climbing two spots to #22 in the Media Poll. We’re currently 17th in the NET.

February 20, 2022
Wagner (5-20, 4-10) @ #20 Merrimack (21-4, 13-1)

It seemed like Wagner trailed by double figures at the opening tip the way we shot out the gate. With 9:28 to go in the first half we led 30-14, and by halftime we were up 54-27. They never got even close to a comeback as we put this one away 91-61.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (36 pts 16 reb 2 ast 2 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Mike Brown (11 pts 4 ast 1 stl) Rashard Crosby (11 pts 2 reb 1 ast 1 stl)

February 23, 2022
#20 Merrimack (22-4, 14-1) @ St. Francis (NY) (7-19, 4-11)

The Terriers gave us a real fight early, particularly on defense. They led several times before we eventually took a lead with six minutes expired in the half, but they kept us close with a full-court defense as stifling as ours. We led 15-12 with 9:32 left in the first half, and with 6:17 to go they retook the lead 22-23. They then proceeded to go on a 10-1 run which would have gotten the crowd revved up if there’d been much of a crowd at all. We, clearly, were struggling. We fought back down the stretch, thankfully, and were grateful to go into the half trailing just 36-39 against a surprisingly tough Terriers defense.

The biggest thing they did right was get Ellis in foul trouble early – I’d had to take him out with two fouls despite his being our only offensive spark early. I brought him back in for the start of the second half knowing we’d need everything we had, But he continued to play in an uncharacteristically poor fashion, and Cabrera had to come back in for extended minutes. We briefly got the lead back midway through the half, but were knotted 55-55 with 9:47 to play. Vince Rawlings and Cabrera let their hot hands do the talking, putting us back up 59-57 with 8:36 to go, Justin Parker hit a brilliant three, and Rawlings made a 12-footer with 6:37 to go, making it 65-59 in our favor. Ellis got some minutes late with four fouls as we tried to cement the win, and though he had one of his worst outings of the year, we won this one as a team, 81-69.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (16 pts 7 reb 1 ast) – fouled out with only 15 mins played
Honorable Mentions: Sam Keating (13 pts 6 reb) Mike Brown (12 pts 5 reb 3 stl) Josh Cabrera (9 pts 5 reb 2 ast)

February 27, 2022
Sacred Heart (10-17, 8-8) @ #17 Merrimack (23-4, 15-1)

With two games left it’s a three-man race for Northeast champions. Fairleigh Dickinson is a game back, and the Central Connecticut Blue Devils are two games back. So we need to stay mistake free if we want to clinch this over the next two games. Plus tonight is senior night, and we really want to bring the roof down against a mid-level Sacred Heart team.

We led from the opening tip, but Sacred Heart stayed reasonably close early on some solid inside shooting. But we broke it open late in the first half, up 33-20 with 8:39 to play, and we dominated down the stretch to lead 62-36 at the half. The deep reserves came in with eight minutes to go in the game, with us up 91-59. From there it was just a matter of running the clock down and we blew this one out 108-80.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (41 pts 13 reb 2 ast 1 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Mike Brown (19 pts 1 reb 2 ast 1 stl) Sam Keating (9 pts 4 reb 5 ast)

Fairleigh Dickinson lost their game at Long Island, 80-73, and Central Connecticut lost on the road at Mount St. Mary’s, 68-77! Which means we’ve won the conference title outright even before we head to visit the Knights on Thursday!

March 2, 2022
#17 Merrimack (24-4, 16-1) @ Fairleigh Dickinson (16-12, 14-3)

Aside from letting them go up 8-9 on us on a layup minutes in, a lead they held for all of 15 seconds, we played perfect basketball early, building a 17-9 lead on the Knights with 14:22 to go in the half. They kept it close late in the half but we held our lead. With 5:04 to play we were up 31-25, but they didn’t quit. The first half went down to the wire, and we led 40-35 at the break. But it only took a few minutes in the second half to get the lead to double figures for the first time of the night, and with 14:27 to go we led 55-44 with the Knights on the ropes. We kept our heads on right and were able to break it open, building the lead to 74-54 with just six minutes remaining. The Knights didn’t have the ability to dig out of that deep a hole, and we won this one without much fuss, 85-64. Our 17-game winning streak remains intact, and we head into the conference tourney with a trip to the NCAA tournament very much in sight.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (36 pts 18 reb 1 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mention: Joel Mattox (15 pts 5 reb 1 blk)
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby jksander » Thu Dec 30, 2021 3:37 am

March 5, 2022
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
(8) Bryant (9-20) @ (1) #15 Merrimack (25-4)

We dominated the Bulldogs from the opening tip, building a 21-11 lead with 12:58 to play in the first half, and we did what the top seed in the conference tournament is supposed to do as we went into the break ahead 39-28 and playing defensively sound basketball, led by Mike Brown as Ellis again got himself into foul trouble – a troubling trend that has surfaced late in the year. Brown led us in the second half, proving himself to be an assured player under pressure as he heads to the end of his freshman year. Ellis came back out mid-half as we built our lead to 51-35 with 13:36 to play, and we crushed them from there to win 86-61.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (23 pts 9 reb 1 ast 1 blk)
Honorable Mention: Mike Brown (18 pts 2 reb 2 ast 1 stl 1 blk)

March 6, 2022
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
(5) Sacred Heart (12-18) @ (1) #15 Merrimack (26-4)

We’ve played past the point where a loss would keep us out of the tournament, but we’d love to keep winning and help secure a solid seed with or without the automatic bid. So we came into this one ready to put the Pioneers away for a third time. But the Pioneers came out fighting early and showed no signs they expected to bow out, even though we’d put up 108 on them just over a week ago. They led 8-9 with 15:23 to go in the half, but after we traded baskets, our guys put up a 10-2 run to build a significant 20-13 lead with 11:20 to go. Yet the Pioneers didn’t fade, putting up an 8-0 run of their own to retake the lead 20-21 with 7:39 left! With 3:13 remaining they’d built THEIR lead to 24-31, and they cruised into the half up 28-37, completely turning the table on us by holding Ellis to 3 points and NO REBOUNDS, with THREE FOULS.

UNACCEPTABLE.

We came out fired up in the second half, slowly chipping at their lead as we attempted a comeback. With 12:55 to go we trailed 42-45, having worked our way back into the fight, but as close as we’d get they’d pull away. We couldn’t seem to find the extra juice to get the lead back. With 5:03 to play we still trailed 58-59, but we pulled ahead on free-throws, and a Sam Keating jump shot made it 64-61! With 1:47 to play we led 67-63 and just needed to close this out. We held tough and staved off a flurry of shots by the Pioneers and pulled this 71-68 win out by the skin of our teeth.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (18 pts 6 reb 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Mike Brown (11 pts 2 reb 2 ast) Sam Keating (10 pts 6 reb 2 ast) Joel Mattox (4 pts 7 reb 2 ast 2 stl 1 blk)

March 7, 2022
NORTHEAST CONFERENCE FINALS
(2) Fairleigh Dickinson (18-13) @ (1) #15 Merrimack (27-4)

Six minutes into this title matchup we held a 14-4 lead on the Knights. But this wasn’t a blowout in the making, at least not yet. Fairleigh Dickinson kept it reasonably close through the half, defending against us as well as anyone could expect. They pulled as close as five down before we put them away down the stretch, leading 43-26 at the break. Then it did become a blowout – we outscored them 15-5 in the first four minutes and this one was a done deal. We locked up the automatic bid and should have a legitimate shot at a single-digit seed for the NCAA Tournament, winning this one 89-56.

I don’t think any Northeast teams other than us have the NET rating to attract postseason attention from the smaller tourneys.

Player of the Game: Bill Ellis (27 pts 19 reb 5 ast 1 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mention: Mike Brown (20 pts 1 reb 2 ast)

March 12, 2022
Selection Sunday! We had to wait for the Oklahoma City Regional announcements, but we drew the 4th seed where we’ll face (13) Eastern Kentucky (22-9) in the first round! Our strength of schedule in the nonconference season really boosted our image with the committee, but we have a tough bracket for sure. (5) Utah State (28-4) has had a killer season, as has (8) Montana State (26-6), an early favorite to upset (1) Kansas (28-6). So there won’t be easy games on this side of the bracket. Meanwhile (2) Villanova (28-6) is the heavy favorite to make it to the Elite Eight.

Central Connecticut, Long Island and Fairleigh Dickinson, meanwhile, will get to play on for at least a while. They all three made the Hardcourt Basketball Challenge (HBC) Tournament, the league’s fourth-tier post-season tournament. Central Connecticut is the 7th seed in the East, Fairleigh Dickinson is the 6th seed in the Midwest and Long Island drew the 8th seed in the West.

March 13, 2022
Central Connecticut lost to Oral Roberts 75-82.
Fairleigh Dickinson upended Rutgers at the buzzer, 69-68.

March 14, 2022
Long Island chewed up Texas Arlington 82-55,

March 15, 2022
Fairleigh Dickinson was outlasted by Ole Miss, 71-74.

March 16, 2022
Long Island, the last Northeast team standing in the HBC, ran into a roadblock against Holy Cross, losing 60-78.
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby PointGuard » Thu Dec 30, 2021 4:03 pm

Great regular season, Coach. Keep your win streak going in the Big Dance.
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Re: I'm BAAACK! Jonathan Sanders takes over at Merrimack

Postby jksander » Thu Dec 30, 2021 9:24 pm

PointGuard wrote:Great regular season, Coach. Keep your win streak going in the Big Dance.


Already wrote it up last night
Will post when I get home from work plus end of season notes and such.
I am dubbed the Merrimack Miracle Maker lol
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