Jack Lawhorne – Student Reporter
Stephenville, TX – The Merrimack Men’s Basketball team wrapped up a grueling season-opening road trip Tuesday night as they made their third and final stop in Stephenville, Texas to take on the Tarleton State Texans.
The Warriors looked to get their first win on the year following a closely-contested loss to South Dakota State and a tough loss to top-20-ranked Auburn.
Tarleton State also dropped their first two matchups of the season, losing by 20-plus to SMU then LSU before getting their first win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Back to the Warriors: Despite an 0–2 start, Merrimack saw two players stand out early — sophomore guard Tye Dorset and Division II transfer Ernest Shelton.
1st HALF
Merrimack jumped out to an early 5–0 lead. Tye Dorset opened the scoring with a driving layup before Todd Brogna knocked down his first three-pointer of the season — and what would be a rare make from deep for either team on the night.
Shortly thereafter, Ernest Shelton scored his 39th and 40th points of the season at the free throw line, before swatting a shot on defense and turning it into more points on the other end after getting his own rebound on an initial miss.
The Warriors went on a dry spell for a few moments and Tarleton State took the lead, before Shelton scored a transition basket outletted by Aliou Cisse, who subsequently tallied himself by crashing the glass for a putback.
Just past the halfway mark of the first, the Warriors got a break off an inbound, and Tye Dorset seized the opportunity by throwing it up to Aliou Cisse, who threw down a highlight hammer.
As previously hinted at, the Warriors struggled from deep (2-14 in 1st half). But with just over eight minutes to play in the period, Andres Marrero was fouled on a three-pointer, and he converted on all three free throws to cut the TSU lead to one and prompt a timeout.
Out of the pause, the Warriors’ iconic zone defense suffocated the Texans offense and forced a shot clock violation.
A couple of possessions later, Kevair Kennedy made a beautiful pass to a cutting Dylan Veilette for the lead. With just over seven minutes remaining, the score was 20–19 MC.
But all of a sudden, Chris Mpaka went on a 6-0 run by himself to re-establish TSU in front.
Freddy Hicks added two free throws to make it an 8-0 Texans run and a 27–20 Texans lead.
Merrimack would go scoreless for almost 4 minutes — before Malik Edmead broke the deadlock with an and-1 bucket, which he converted into a three-point-play.
The Tarleton State lead was back to just four.
TSU answered, but so did Edmead, again, when he drove to the basket, drew three defenders, and scored on a goaltend.
Dylan Veillette drew an offensive foul on the other end, which turned into — yet again, a Malik Edmead layup.
The senior guard’s 7-point outburst in just over a minute completely kept Merrimack alive — at least for the first half.
Ernest Shelton also knocked down a 4-point play — his eighth three of the season, and just the second of the game for Merrimack.
At half, Tarleton State led Merrimack in a low-scoring affair, 34-31.
2nd HALF
Three minutes into the second half, Merrimack had still yet to score in the period. That trend came to an end when Kevair Kennedy sparked for his first five points of the game.
And luckily, TSU had only scored three points up to that moment themselves.
After a collaborated steal by Tye Dorset and Ernest Shelton turned into two made Kennedy free throws, the momentum finally appeared to begin to lean Merrimack.
But at the worst time possible, the Warriors’ youth started to show, and two MC turnovers later, the Texans again began to pull away. Joe Gallo called timeout, but Freddy Hicks took over down low, as he scored an and-1 to extend the TSU lead to seven.
An Ernest Shelton three-point jumper would cut it to four, but the Warriors’ turnover problems only got worse.
Merrimack wouldn’t score again for over four minutes.
Meanwhile, Freddy Hicks furthered his reign in the paint. The Texans outscored the Warriors 44–28 at the basket, and Hicks got to the line 12 times, where he hit eight.
By the time the Warriors scored again, within two minutes, they were down double-digits with less than 10 minutes to play.
On the bright side, Ernest Shelton finished with 20 again and hit his second 4-point-play of the night via an offensive rebound and assist from Kevair Kennedy, who made a handful of positive plays late in the contest. Malik Edmead and Aliou Cisse also stood out in this one.
But down the stretch, Chris Mpaka took over to seal the deal for the Texans. He finished with a game-high 24 points on a dominant 10 of 12 shooting, and added 9 rebounds and 4 blocks.
In the end, Tarleton State defeated Merrimack by a commanding score of 76–62.
POST-GAME
While the Warriors fall to 0–3, there’s still plenty of reason for optimism. We knew coming into the season this was a young, new team — even with high-end talent, coaching, and chemistry — and a cross-country road trip to open the season only added to the challenge.
Ernest Shelton has looked every bit like an All-MAAC player, while others — like Tye Dorset — make early cases of their own. Freshman Kevair Kennedy has also flashed impressive highs just three games into his collegiate career.
The Warriors return to the hardwood at Boston University (1–1) on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m., before hosting Maine (0–3) in their home opener at Lawler Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
