North Andover, Mass. – NEC Rookie of the Year Adam Clark tallied 24 points to lead second-seeded Merrimack College to a 61-51 victory over the fourth-seeded Le Moyne College men's basketball team in the Northeast Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon at Lawler Arena.

The Dolphins finish their first season at the Division I level and in the NEC with an overall record of 15-17.

The Warriors, the defending conference tournament champion, advance to the title game for the second straight year and will take on sixth-seeded Wagner College on Tuesday. The winner will earn the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament as Merrimack is eligible this year after completing its transition period last year.

The Warriors and Dolphins met in a conference semifinal for the third straight season they have been conference mates, with the winner of the first two (Le Moyne in 2018 and Merrimack in 2019) going on to win the conference championship.

Graduate student forward Luke Sutherland (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee/Siena/Bryant) led the Dolphins in the loss with 23 points, including 16 in the second half, eight rebounds and a pair of assists. Sutherland finishes the season with 496 points, the 18th-most in a season in the program's history and the most since Qwadere Lovell '16 had 532 in 2014-15. He closes out his career with 995 points between Siena (5, one year), Bryant (12, one year) and Le Moyne (978, three years). Senior guard Darrick Jones Jr. (Richmond, Va./Oak Hill Academy/Towson) tallied 11 points and six rebounds, while graduate student guard Kaiyem Cleary (Manchester, England/Redemption Christian Academy (NY)/Florida Southern/Florida Southwestern/Ball State) posted 10 points and six rebounds to close out his six-year career.

Clark recorded 10 of his points in the first half and 14 in the second half, while adding four assists and two steals. NEC Player and Defensive Player of the Year Jordan Derkack registered six points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals over 38 minutes while hobbled by a lower-leg injury.

Le Moyne jumped out to a 13-4 lead through the opening five and one-half minutes. Cleary and Sutherland made three-pointers, Sutherland had a second-chance lay-up and a jumper in the paint and then Jones Jr. buried a three-pointer.

After Merrimack scored five straight points, Jones Jr. had a fast-break lay-up for a 15-9 lead with 12:05 to play.

The Warriors responded with a 19-3 run to take their first double-digit lead of the game. Jacob O'Connell ignited the run with back-to-back three-pointers and Derkack followed with a game-tying jumper. After Derkack made a free throw for the lead, Clark scored eight of the next 10 points around a lay-up by Samba Diallo.

Jones Jr. closed out the scoring in the half with two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to get the Dolphins within 28-20 at the intermission. The free throws snapped a scoring drought of eight minutes and two seconds.

After Derkack started the scoring in the second half with a three-pointer 21 seconds in (his only points of the half), the Dolphins scored eight straight to get within one possession. Sutherland made two free throws, had a baseline dunk to beat the shot clock and then scored again in the paint to get the Dolphins within five. Just over one and one-half minutes later, Cleary made a second-chance jumper to cut the deficit to 31-28 with 14:47 to play.

Following a miss by each team on their next possession, Devon Savage and Cleary traded three-pointers.

Diallo made back-to-back lay-ups to push Merrimack's lead back to seven with 11:45 remaining, but the Dolphins countered with six of the next eight points to get back within three with 8:14 to go. After Cleary made a jumper, Sutherland converted a lay-up following a Cleary steal to make it 40-37.

The Warriors scored eight of the next 10 points to extend their lead back to nine with 6:45 left. Savage and O'Connell made three-pointers around a lay-up by Sutherland and then Clark made a lay-up.

Sutherland answered with back-to-back three-pointers around a media timeout to get the Dolphins within three for the final time with 5:42 left.

Following two empty possessions by each team over the next almost two minutes, Bryan Etumnu recorded a conventional three-point play to kickstart a 9-2 run to push their lead to double-digits again. Clark followed with a lay-up and then made four straight free throws.

Clark then made four more free throws around two apiece from graduate student guards Nate McClure (Houston, Texas/Concordia Lutheran/Texas State/State Fair C.C./IUPUI) and Mike DePersia (Cherry Hill, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial/IUPUI) to close out the game's scoring.