Ryan Laws – Student Reporter Photo @thefriesflics
On a night that will certainly be remembered when talking about this sensational Merrimack season, with the details including a nationally televised game plus a sold-out crowd, the formula equaled for this one to be a classic, and it was. Joe Gallo’s defensively oriented lineup was able to bend but not break early on, leading to the team getting stops when it mattered most late and coming away with a 7-point win in overtime.
Siena entered the game shooting 9/45 (20%) on 3s over their last three games, but they were able to find a groove from deep early against the Warriors. Making four 3s within the first 10 minutes of the game had the Saints up 8, which was the largest lead of the game by either team.
“For a team that doesn’t shoot a lot of threes, I thought the key was still the three, and they came out firing,” said Merrimack’s head coach Joe Gallo. “They were kind of just milking some time early and then went into their action, and we were asleep a little bit at the wheel.”
A huge point of emphasis for the Warriors was defending late in the shot clock, and of the 12 points Siena scored from the perimeter in that sequence, half of them came with the shot clock under 10 seconds.
It was also the last 3-pointer Siena would hit until the 1:33 mark in the second half, just 1/13 (7.7%) from distance after an early barrage.
How was Merrimack able to get back into the game after being down early and still trailing at halftime?
Defending Siena’s quick passing as time ran down on the shot clock.
“Since the St. Peter’s loss in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock, we’re like [allowing] 0.7 points per possession. I don’t know if that means anything to anyone, but that would basically be the best defense in the country,” Gallo explained. “It’s like the red zone, and so we call it red. When the shot clock gets to 10, you hear all my assistants screaming, ‘Red! Red!’ Red! That’s our red zone, like in football, and they got us in the red zone early, and we tightened it up in the second half.”
Merrimack stayed with their defensive look, and they were able to flip a 5-point halftime deficit into a 5-point lead in just 10 minutes of game time, headlined by a 13-5 MC run. The sequence included 2 blocks by KC Ugwuakazi, a Siena turnover, and was capped off by the Saints’ senior guard Justice Shoates fouling out.
The Warriors were able to limit Shoates to 4 points in just 11 minutes played, a season low.
When asked about the energy from the sold-out crowd after the game, Gallo replied, “It felt like the low roof was going to come up. Where it really gets us is the defensive side, when you go from making a shot and the building erupting and then having to get a stop, and you know, we got some really big stops down the stretch.”
Gallo’s team was able to carry this energy defensively into overtime, just allowing 6 points in the 5-minute frame, including forcing 3 turnovers in the final 70 seconds, sealing a Warriors win by a final score of 79-72.
The Warriors will play in front of their home crowd one more time on Sunday at 1 PM when they take on Iona, before taking the “Make Chaos” zone defense on the road to face Canisius and Niagara to close the regular season.
