The Merrimack Warriors men's basketball team represents

Merrimack College Merrimack College is a Private university, private Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian university in North Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1947 by the Order of St. Augustine with an initial goal to educate World War II veterans. It en ...

North Andover, Massachusetts North Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 30,915. History Native Americans inhabited what is now northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years prior to European colonizati ...

, United States. The school's team currently competes in the

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 13 full members are located in five Northeastern states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachuse ...

. They are currently led by 9th year head coach

Joe Gallo Joseph Gallo (April 7, 1929 – April 7, 1972), also known as "Crazy Joe", was an Italian-American mobster and a captain in the Colombo crime family of New York City. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in his youth, Gallo became an enforcer in the ...

and play their home games in Hammel Court and Lawler Arena at the

Merrimack Athletics Complex The Merrimack Athletics Complex is the home of the Merrimack College Merrimack Warriors, Warriors athletics teams. It has a basketball court and hockey arena. Hammel Court, located in the Volpe Athletic Center, is the home of the men's and wom ...

. The Warriors played their first season in 1949 at the D2 level. In 1984 they joined the Northeast 10 conference. They would stay there from 1984 to 2019 and win three conference championships and one regular season title. They would also make 11 NCAA D2 tournament appearances. Making it to the sweet 16 in 1976 and 1977. They would also win 3 ECAC tournament titles during this period. In their first year at the Division 1 level, the 2019–20 team went 14–4 in NEC play and won the regular season title, despite in the preseason being picked by the media to finish 11th out of 11 teams. Due to the NCAA's policy on reclassifying programs, the Warriors were not eligible to compete in the NCAA tournament or the NIT until the 2023–24 season. In 2024, the Warriors joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.Merrimack joins the MAAC https://www.merrimack.edu/news/merrimack-college-accepts-invitation-to-join-metro-atlantic-athletic-conference/

History

The Merrimack basketball program started in 1949 they would play as a D2 independent. Paul Lanni was hired as their first ever head coach and led them to a 7-2 record in their first season. Lanni would leave after just one season. From 1950 to 1958 the Warriors would go through 3 coaching changes. In 1958 they would hire William S. LaRochelle who would lead the team for the next decade in his 12 seasons LaRochelle would lead the warriors to 9 winning seasons. With his best season coming in 1966-67 when he led the warriors to a 17-6 record. Roger Damphousse would be the first player in program history to be named an all American in 1961. LaRochelle would leave after the 1969-70 season being the first ever warrior coach to get to the 100 win mark ending with an overall record of 153-114.

The Monahan era

After LaRochelle left in 1970 then at the time Merrimack Athletic director Frank T. Monahan would take over as head coach. Monahan’s first five seasons would be very up and down going 55-71 during this time. Steve McMahon would be the first ever warrior to be drafted to the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

in 1972. During the 1975–76 season Monahan and the warriors took a big step forward as he led them to their first 20 win season in program history. They would keep this momentum going into next season. As he led the warriors to a 19–9 record this resulted in their first ever NCAA Division II tournament birth in program history. The warriors would make it to the sweet sixteen that year beating

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Is ...

in the first round 107–83. They would eventually fall to Scared heart 110–104 in the sweet 16. After leading the warriors to one of the best seasons in program history. Monahan would one up this the following season in 1977–78 by leading the warriors to a program high 22–6 record and getting them back into the NCAA Division II tournament. The warriors would also be ranked as high as #2 in the nation during this season. On top of this star player Ed Murphy led NCAA in scoring this year and Coach Monahan would be named the New England coach of the year. Once again the warriors would win their first round match up dominating Bryant 116–91. But for the second year in a row the warriors would meet Sacred heart in the sweet sixteen and would once again lose 84–83. These two seasons would be the furthest Merrimack ever made it in the D2 tournament. Monahan would coach another two seasons before eventually resigning in 1980.

The Hammel era

Frank Monahan’s assistant Bert Hammel took over the head coaching position after he left in 1980, and Hammel was here for the long haul as he would stay as Merrimack head coach from 1980 all the way till 2016. Hammel led the warriors to a some success in his first 4 years. But big changes came in 1984 when for the first time in program history the warriors joined a conference that being the

Northeast 10 The Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the northeastern United States in the states of ...

. In just their second year in the conference during the 1985-86 season. The warriors would go 19-9 overall and 9-5 in their conference, finishing in 2nd place. They would then beat Assumption in the quarterfinals 83-78. They would then meet AIC in the semifinals, beating them 107-92. Punching their ticket to their first appearance in the NE10 Championship game. They would eventually fall to Springfield 70-65. Even with the loss it was still a great year for the program showing they could hold their own in their new conference. During the 1988-89 season, the warriors compiled a 22-9 record and were invited to the ECAC metro tournament. The warriors would go on to beat

New York tech The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a private research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long Island and one on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. Additio ...

in the semifinals 102-78 and would beat Long Island-C.W. Post 98-85 to win their first championship in program history. Hammel would lead the warriors to their 3rd

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

tournament appearance in 1991 with a 21-9 record. Hammel would be named NE10 coach of the year and Paul Neal would be named NE10 MVP. But the warriors would lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament to

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. A northern Democratic Party (United States), Democrat who believed that the Abolitionism in the United States, abolitio ...

82-79. The warriors would have a historic season the following year in 1992 going 22-9 and beating Saint Anslem 92-77 to win their first NE10 championship in program history and making it to back-to-back NCAA tournaments. In the 1992 NCAA tournament the warriors would lose in the first round to Bridgeport 91-84. After a couple of mediocre seasons, the warriors would hit a nice stretch in the late 90s going into the 2000s. As they would win back to back ECAC metro championships in 1998 and 1999 beating St Michaels 80-75 for the title in 1998 and beating

NJIT New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a Public university, public research university in Newark, New Jersey, United States, with a graduate-degree-granting satellite campus in Jersey City. Founded in 1881 with the support of local indust ...

96-82 for the title 1999. The following year they would go 22-9 and win both the NE10 regular season and tournament championships, beating AIC 84-78. Punching their 5 ticket to the

2000 NCAA tournament The 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 2000, and ended with the champion ...

the warriors would beat Saint rose 92-64 in the first round before losing in the round of 32 to Adelphi 90-64. After some unsuccessful seasons, 2 warriors players would win NE10 rookies of the year: Darren Duncan 2007 and Darin Mency in 2008. Hammel would lead the warriors to 3 straight NCAA tournament appearances in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. In 2008, they would lose in the first round to

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81-61. In 2009, they would beat

Umass Lowell The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell and UML) is a Public university, public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of M ...

in the first round 86-84 before getting eliminated by Bentley again in the round of 32 79-76. Hammel's final run in the tournament in 2010 would look awfully similar to the year prior, as they would beat Umass Lowell 81-62 in the first round before getting eliminated by Bentley for the third year in a row, losing 83-79. Hammel would coach for another 6 seasons after the 2010 season before retiring in 2016 finishing with a record of 526-491 setting the all-time wins record for the warriors.

The Gallo era

In 2016, Gallo was hired as head coach at his alma mater, replacing Bert Hammel. Gallo led the program to immediate success. In his first 3 seasons He led the warriors to the NCAA division II tournament 3 years in a row in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. The warriors would make it to the round of 32 in 2017 and 2018. Gallo would also lead the program to their first NE10 title in 19 years during the 2018-19 season beating

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51-46 for the title. 2019 would be the warriors last ever appearance in the NCAA D2 tournament and they would lose to Dominican (NY) 64-50 in the first round. They would finish with 11 total appearances. After 35 years in the NE10 In 2019 The warriors jumped to division I. Moving to the

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

In just their second game at the DI level the warriors would shock the world by beating big ten opponent Northwestern 72-62 for their first ever D1 victory. From here In just their first season in Division I Gallo would go on to lead Merrimack to a 20-11 overall record and a 14-4 conference record and a

Northeast Conference The Northeast Conference (NEC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Teams in the NEC compete in Division I for all sports; football competes in the Division I Foo ...

regular season title in 2020, Gallo was named conference coach of the year along with getting a plethora of other coaching awards. Juvaris Hayes was named the Lefty Driesell Award winner and would be the first player in team history to be named a D1 all American. Capping off a historic season. During the 2022-23 season the warriors would start out 2-13 overall. But they would only lose 3 more games after that finishing the regular season 15-16 overall and 12-4 in conference winning another regular season titles in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. For the first time the warriors were aloud to compete in the NEC tournament. As the 1 seed the warriors would beat

LIU Liu (; or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'battle axe', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the clas ...

and

Sacred heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

to advance to the championship game. The Warriors would play FDU in the title game and win a nail biter 67-66 to win their first and only NEC tournament. But the warriors could not go to the NCAA division I tournament due to NCAA transitional rule.

Jordan Minor Jordan Minor (born March 11, 2000) is an American basketball player for the Long Island Nets of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Merrimack Warriors and the Virginia Cavaliers. High school career Minor attended Boston Coll ...

would be named NEC player of the year and the warriors would end the that season on a 11 game win streak which was longest by any team in the country that season. The warriors would go 21-12 and 13-3 in conference the next season in 2023-24 and win their third NEC regular season title in just 5 years. The warriors would also sweep the NEC awards this year as Adam Clark won NEC rookie of the year, Brian Etumnu would be named most improved player and

Jordan Derkack Jordan Derkack is an American college basketball player for the Dayton Flyers. He previously played for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Merrimack Warriors. Early life and high school career Derkack is the son of Gene Derkack, who played col ...

would be named defensive of the year and conference MVP. Gallo and the warriors would also get back to the NEC championship game in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

now eligible for the tournament but would fall to Wagner 54-47. This would be the warriors last season in NEC. The warriors would end their time in the NEC with a overall record of 82-64 and a dominant conference record 58-28 they never had a losing record in NEC conference play. In 2024 Gallo and the warriors would move to the MAAC Conference. They would finish in second place in their first year going 18-15 overall and 14-6 in conference before losing to Mount Saint Mary’s in the MAAC semifinals 57-55.

Season-by-season record

Source

Postseason

NCAA Division II tournament results

The Warriors appeared in the NCAA Division II Tournament eleven times they have a combined record of 7-11

ECAC Metro tournament results

The warriors appeared in 3 ECAC Metro tournaments and won all 3

Head coaches

SourceMerrimack college coaches Database https://www.coachesdatabase.com/merrimack-warriors-basketball/

Player & Coaches Awards

Division I player awards

MAAC Defensive players of the year * Bryan Etumnu (2025) NEC player of the year *

(2023) *

(2024) NEC Defensive players of the year * Juvaris Hayes (2020) *

(2023) *

(2024) NEC Rookie of the year * Javon Bennett (2023) * Adam “Budd” Clark (2024) NEC Most improved player * Bryan Etumnu (2024)

Lefty Driesell Award The Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's college basketball defender in NCAA Division I competition. The award was established in 2010 and is named after head coach Lefty Dries ...

* Juvaris Hayes (2020)

Division II player awards

NE10 Player of the year * Paul Neal (1991) NE10 Defensive player of the year * Reggie Carter (2000) * Kenny Jones (2007) * Juvaris Hayes (2019) NE10 Rookie player of the year * Steve Scott (1987) * Darren Duncan (2007) * Darin Mency (2008) * Juvaris Hayes (2017) NCAA D2 scoring leader * Ed Murphy (1977 season)

Coaches awards

NEC Coach of the year *

(2020) John McLendon Award * Joe Gallo (2020) ECAC Coach of the Year * Joe Gallo (2020) NABC District Coach of the Year * Joe Gallo (2020, 2023) USBWA Coach of the Year * Joe Gallo (2020) HoopDirt.com NCAA Div. 1 Coach of the year * Joe Gallo (2020) NE10 Coach of the year * Bert Hammel (1991) New England UPI Division II coach of the year (1978) * Frank T Monahan

All-Americans

* Roger Damphousse —1961, 1962 * Ed Murphy — 1976, 1977, 1978 * Dana Skinner —1978 * Joe Dickson — 1982, 1983, 1984 * Paul Neal — 1983 * John McVeigh — 1997 * Darren Duncan — 2009, 2010 * Dee Mency — 2011 * Wayne Mack — 2012 * Juvaris Hayes — 2018, 2019, 2020

Merrimack Athletics hall of fame

The following is a list of people associated with the Merrimack men's basketball program who were elected into the Merrimack Athletic Hall of Fame (induction date in parentheses) * Roger Damphousse (1984) * Ed Murphy (1984) * W. Stephen McMahon (1985) * Dana Skinner (1985) * John Martin (1986) * Ro Walsh (1986) * Gerry Stopyra (1989) * Peter Dufour (1989) * Bob Lemay (1991) * Joseph P. Daley (1991) * Joe Dickson (1991) * Larry Roberson (1993) * Paul Neal (2004) * Darren Duncan (2017) * Gary Duda (2022)

Statistical leaders

Points Rebounds source

Home Courts

Since the program’s inception in 1949. The Warriors have played their home games at Hammel Court located in the Merrimack athletic complex. The gym is named after former head coach Bert Hammel. In 2021 the warriors announced that Lawler arena (the hockey rink) would host its first ever basketball game. Ever since the 2021-22 season the warriors have split their home games between Hammel court and Lawler Arena. Merrimack College Hammel Court IMG 4541

Warriors in professional basketball

NBA/ G League * Ed Murphy (drafted by the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

in 1978, 3x French League Foreign MVP, inducted into the

French basketball hall of fame The French Basketball Academy ( French: Académie du basket-ball français) is a hall of fame that honors individuals (or whole teams) that have contributed to the spread and improvement of French basketball, through their sporting contributions, ...

in 2021)Merrimack drafted players database https://basketball.realgm.com/ncaa/conferences/Northeast-Conference/27/Merrimack-College/1645/nba-draft *Steve McMahon (drafted by the

Cincinnati Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Kings are the ...

in 1972) *Dana Skinner (drafted by the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

in 1978) *Joe Dixon (drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1984) *

(signed by the

Long Island nets The Long Island Nets are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Uniondale, New York, and are affiliated with the Brooklyn Nets. The team plays its home games at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Nassau County ...

in 2024) International Leagues *Jacob O’Connell (signed with Coto Cordoba CB in 2025) *Ziggy Reid (signed with

Oberwart Gunners Oberwart Gunners, for sponsorship reasons known as Unger Steel Gunners Oberwart, is a professional basketball club based in Oberwart, Austria. The team plays in the Österreichische Basketball Bundesliga and was founded in 1957. The team has won ...

in 2024) * Juvaris Hayes (signed with the

Tigers Tübingen Tigers Tübingen is a basketball team from Tübingen, a college town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany, playing in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the country's first tier league. Founded as SV 03 Tübingen, is affiliated with the multi-spor ...

in 2020, he also played for Itzehoe Eagles and BC TSU Tbilisi) *

Gelvis Solano Gelvis Andres Solano Paulino (born 1 June 1994) is a Dominican professional basketball player for the Dewa United Banten of the Indonesian Basketball League (IBL). He played college basketball for the Merrimack Warriors. Early life Solano is ...

(currently plays for

Dewa United Banten Dewa United Banten may refer to: * Dewa United Banten F.C., a football club based in Serang Regency, Banten * Dewa United Banten BC, a basketball club based in Tangerang, Banten {{disambiguation ...

, former member of the

Dominican Republic national baseball team The Dominican Republic national baseball team ( Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de República Dominicana'') is the national baseball team of the Dominican Republic. The team has won the Baseball World Cup in 1948 and World Baseball Classic in 2 ...

) * Darren Duncan (played 12 season in the

National Basketball League of Canada The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada; ) was a Canadian professional men's minor league basketball organization. The NBL Canada was founded in 2011, when three existing Premier Basketball League teams joined with four new franchis ...

)

References

External links

Website
{{Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men's basketball navbox