ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose men's basketball team generated 28 points off 22 turnovers by visiting Merrimack College and cruised to a 79-57 Northeast-10 Conference victory over the Warriors tonight at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium. The Golden Knights (13-4/8-4 NE-10) ran their unbeaten streak to four games, while Merrimack dropped its third straight.

Both clubs took time feeling things out early on, but Saint Rose found the right formula just more than six minutes in when junior guard Rob Gutierrez sparked a 17-4 run with a jumper that quickly transformed a 7-5 edge into a commanding 24-9 margin at the 9:46 mark. The Warriors missed 13 of their first 16 shots and coughed the ball up seven times during the outburst that was capped off by a transition layup by sophomore guard Andre Pope.

Merrimack (9-6/5-6 NE-10) stopped the bleeding via a 9-2 jaunt of its own to pull to within eight, 26-18. Junior guard Wayne Mack scored five straight points by way of two free throws and a 3-pointer to highlight the spurt. The Warriors still trailed by eight, 32-24, with 4:23 until intermission, but Gutierrez buried a jumper and the Golden Knights ran off nine of the game's next 11 points to go into the locker room up 15, 41-26.

Saint Rose limited Merrimack to just nine field goals over the first 20 minutes. The Warriors, who entered the game as the top scoring team in the NE-10 (80.2 ppg), hit just 33.3 percent (9-for-27) of their shot attempts as opposed to the Golden Knights, which knocked down 51.6 percent (16-for-31) of their opportunities.

Saint Rose quickly pushed its lead to 28, 56-28, within the first four minutes of the second stanza. Pope punctuated things by slamming home yet another Merrimack miscue. The Warriors never cut their deficit under 20 points the rest of the way, and thus the Golden Knights snapped a three-game skid against Merrimack.

Gutierrez led four Saint Rose players in double-figures with 21 points. Junior forward Sheldon Griffin contributed season-highs of 13 points, five assists and three steals; while Pope added 13 points and nine boards. Freshman forward Dominykas Milka tossed in 10 points and hauled in four rebounds in 20 minutes of reserve action as well.

Mack and junior forward Aaron Strothers paced the Warriors. Mack finished with 18 points, while Strothers had a “double-double” behind 16 points and 13 rebounds. Senior guard Darin Mency, the league's second-leading scorer, was held to nine points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Both squads get back to their respective conference schedules this Saturday. The Golden Knights head to UMass Lowell for a 4:00 pm tip-off, while Merrimack returns home to host Pace University at 3:00 pm.
 
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