NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – More than halfway through the first half, a crowd of people stands near the door entering the gym. The stands are packed, so there’s basically no room for them to sit anywhere. It happens often in these parts, but this is no ordinary basketball setting around here.
It’s not a Merrimack Valley Conference high school game, which tends to draw standing room only crowds. Rather, it’s Merrimack’s first Division I home game against another Division I school. They may be new to Division I, but they’re winning a little more than a lot of first-year teams do, and a win over Army on this night puts them at 6-5.
Hammel Court, named for the late Warriors coach who was a big figure in the community, is a small gym, but it can get packed when 1500 people come, as was the case on Wednesday night. Before the game, as a late-arriving crowd filled in, a fired-up head coach Joe Gallo liked the potential for the atmosphere there, as well as those in the local area getting behind this team. And when Mikey Watkins hit his third three-pointer in about five minutes to start the second half, giving the Warriors a 41-32 lead, the place erupted.
Last fall, the school accepted an invitation to join the Northeast Conference and begin a transition into Division I. It was one of the more recent big moves as the school continues to grow, with record applications and enrollments as well as faculty, and continues a big turnaround from a time when its endowment took a hit a decade ago during the recession.
As tends to happen for newcomers to Division I, home games are hard to come by. The Warriors will play just three games at Hammel Court outside of Northeast Conference play, with only a December 29 date with Boston University remaining in that regard. Conference play will give them nine more home games, including three in a row around the end of January and beginning of February.
While Merrimack was picked last in the Northeast Conference preseason poll, it would be a surprise if they finished there. They have an experienced team that won a lot of games, going three for three in reaching the Division II NCAA Tournament under Gallo, and among their seniors is Juvaris Hayes, who could easily have been a Division I player and was well-schooled at St. Anthony’s in New Jersey. This is also a team that knows how to turn teams over, as they force over 17 a game. The win over Northwestern early on is not a fluke, although no one should expect them to run the table in the NEC as if they could beat power conference teams left and right.
Even so, this transition won’t be easy all the time. In fact, it didn’t start well, as Maine blew them out 84-64 in the opener. Hayes talked about how eye-opening that game alone was, especially in terms of a size differential. But they turned it right around at Northwestern in a game that Gallo says is indicative of what this team must do, and unlike many think, they don’t have to play out of their mind as if they have no margin for error.
“It’s nice to know that if we just play hard, follow our formula on both ends of the floor, the score takes care of itself,” said Gallo.
Along the way, the difference between Division II and Division I is clear to the players.
“Possessions are way more important than they were in D-II,” said Warkins, who led the Warriors with 17 points on 6-9 shooting on Wednesday night. “We’ve got to take care of the ball more, we’ve got to play harder on defense. We could take plays off last year, but now we’ve got to go hard every play, every possession.”
Hayes and two other starters graduate this year, so they will look a little different next year. Hayes has been a Division II All-American and will likely graduate with over 2,000 points and already has over 800 assists. His leadership is a big key to set the tone for others like Watkins, a sophomore who came alive in the second half against Army, as well as freshmen, who made up their entire reserve unit on Wednesday night and outplayed the reserves for the Black Knights. Since like any transitional team, they are not eligible for the conference tournament and ultimately any postseason tournament for five years, they have to build as much for the long term as the present.
The transition will also call on the athletic department to raise the budget some as well, at least in due time. Things like facility improvements and allowing for the hire of at least another assistant coach – right now Micky Burtnyk and Phil Gaetano are the only assistant coaches, with no director of basketball operations – will all hopefully be in the offing before long. Those are two solid assistants – Burtnyk won there as a player and has now done so in over a decade as an assistant, while building many great relationships in New England, and Gaetano was a terrific point guard in his college days at Sacred Heart who knows the game tremendously well – so they can manage for the time being. Once upon a time, a few Ivy League schools had a volunteer assistant as their third assistant coach, so while not ideal, it’s not unprecedented in Division I.
The Warriors don’t need to have a big gym that seats 10,000 people, as no one in the NEC has that, but adding a few seats and some other amenities will help. There is plenty of interest in basketball in that area, so there is reason to believe the Warriors can get good crowds aided by community support in addition to their students.
As the final minute of the game ticks down, Gallo can hear his kids trying to get his attention. The crowd is that close to the bench. He has a fun moment with them, with his team about to claim a 69-60 victory and go above .500 as they break for final exams. It’s no ordinary inaugural Division I transition season, in a game being played in what isn’t an ordinary basketball setting in the area.
