LOWELL, MA (Feb. 27, 2008) – The UMass Lowell men’s basketball team, which received the No. 11 seed, visits No. 6 Merrimack Saturday (2:00) in the first round of the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference Tournament at the Volpe Center.

UMass Lowell capped the regular season with an 11-16 overall record and an 8-14 clip in the NE-10, good for 11th place. The Warriors earned the No. 6 seed by virtue of an extended tiebreaker as four teams finished conference play with 12-10 records.

The winner will visit No. 3 Assumption (20-9 overall, 14-8 NE-10) Monday at 7:00. The semifinals are slated for Thursday, Mar. 6 at the site of the higher seed while the championship game will be played Saturday at 2:00.

Merrimack won both meetings during the regular season, 80-73 in North Andover on Dec. 4, and 102-87 in Lowell on Jan. 8.

“Merrimack is a very dangerous and explosive team with two or three of the best guards in the league,” said UML Head Coach Ken Barer. “They also have the ability to spread you out and shoot the three. We certainly have something to play for since they beat us twice this year. We need to come in very focused on our game plan.”

In the first meeting, the River Hawks erased a 17-point deficit in the first minutes of the second half (45-28) and even took a 63-60 lead before the Warriors ended the game with an 8-2 run.  Freshman F Darin Mency led all scorers with 25 points while sophomore G Darren Duncan added 17.

Senior G Dashon Harper (Columbus, OH) led UML with 23 points (6-12 from 3-point range) while sophomore F Victor Colon (Chicago, IL) added 17. Senior G Jamael Lynch (Brooklyn, NY) chipped in 15 points, all in the second half.

In the Jan. 8 game, Duncan erupted for a career-high 35 points and led three teammates who scored in double digits as the Warriors prevailed in a shootout in Lowell. Both teams shot better than .540 for the game and both converted 16 of 26 attempts from 3-point range (.615).

Senior G Kevin Carr (Lancaster, OH) led UML with a career-high 28 points while Colon added 17 and Harper 13.

Merrimack leads the all-time series against the River Hawks 24-18, winning the last three games.

2008 Northeast-10 Conference Tournament
Saturday, Mar. 1 – First Round
#12 American International (10-17, 7-15) at #5 Stonehill (16-13, 12-10)		2:00	SC 69-63
#11 UMass Lowell (11-16, 8-14) at #6 Merrimack (17-10, 12-10)		2:00	UML 70-69
#10 Southern New Hampshire (12-15, 9-13) at #7 Bryant (16-11, 12-10)		2:00	BU 65-57
#9 Saint Anselm (13-13, 11-11) at #8 Le Moyne (14-13, 12-10)		2:00	LC 75-70
Monday, Mar. 3 – Quarterfinal
#5 Stonehill at #4 Pace (14-13, 13-9)		7:30
#11 UMass Lowell at #3 Assumption (20-9, 14-8)		7:00
#7 Bryant at #2 Saint Rose (21-6, 18-4)		7:00
#8 Le Moyne at #1 Bentley (27-0, 22-0)		7:00
Thursday, Mar. 6 – Semifinals
(at highest seeds)		7:00