North Andover, Mass. (February 14) -- On Saturday afternoon at Bert Hammel Court, the Assumption College men's basketball team dropped a 78-57 road final to Merrimack College in Northeast-10 play.

Merrimack took an early 11-6 lead over the Hounds that was cut to 11-8 moments later on a jumper from junior Terrance Bobb-Jones (Wilmington, Del./Delcastle-Voc Tech) with 15:35 left in the first half. A three from junior Tre Owens (Rota, Spain/Rota) kept the game as a one-possession contest at the midway point of the period before hoops from JT Strickland and Gelvis Solano stretched the lead out to 22-15.

The Hounds continued to trail by seven with 5:42 remaining, but came right back with a putback tip-in from Bobb-Jones and a three from the right wing by sophomore Reilly Reid (Mississauga, Ontario/Lorne Park) that cut the lead to just 26-24 with 3:59 on the clock. The teams traded hoops to close the half, including a layup from senior Jimmy Zenevitch (Methuen, Mass./Central Catholic) with 39 seconds left that sent the game into the break at 33-29 in favor of the Warriors.

In the second, the Hounds trailed 36-32 after a Zenevitch free throw just 1:10 in before a 14-5 scoring run gave the Warriors a 50-37 lead with 12:25 remaining. Merrimack kept the Hounds at bay over the remainder of the game with a double-digit advantage, slowly pulling away for the eventual 78-57 win as the teams split the season series.  

Zenevitch led the Hounds with 11 points, along with 10 from junior Karl Ziegler (Annandale, Va./Annandale) and an eight-point, seven-rebound, eight-assist game by Bobb-Jones.

Solano paced the Warriors with a game-high 26 points, along with 17 from Strickland an 11-point, nine-rebound game from James Kennedy. Merrimack was led by 13 three-pointers in the game, while also holding a slight 38-32 rebounding advantage.

With the loss, Assumption falls to 8-15 overall and 5-13 in Northeast-10 play, while Merrimack improves to 13-9 overall and 8-9 in the league.

Assumption is back in action on Wednesday, February 18th as the Hounds travel to Saint Michael's College for a 7:30 p.m. start at the Ross Sports Center in Colchester, Vt.

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