The Merrimack Warriors and the St. Mary’s Gaels meet Thursday in college basketball action from McKeon Pavilion. Here’s a St. Mary’s vs Merrimack prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best St. Mary’s vs Merrimack pick.
Merrimack Warriors Betting Preview
Merrimack’s season started on the skids with losses to VCU, Princeton, Rutgers, Butler, UMass Lowell and UTSA in the first seven games. After that came wins over Troy, Canisius, Niagara and Boston U in the next four games however.
In the Tuesday game versus Stanford, Merrimack was outpaced by nine points in the first half. The Warriors got better from there but still lost 74-68 in the end. Leading team scorer Adam Clark came up with 32 points and six rebounds.
St. Mary’s Gaels Betting Preview
Over on the Saint Mary’s side, they beat Towson, Chattanoga, Akron, Nebraska, Stanislaus State, Cal Poly and USC before a loss to Arizona State. After wins over UTSA and Utah the Gaels lost to Boise State on Saturday.
In the weekend matchup with the Broncos, the Gaels came out of the break with a 32-26 deficit and forced overtime. St. Mary’s eventually lost 67-65, though. Augustas Marciulionis led the team on his 17 points and six assists.
Why the Saint Mary’s Gaels will win
- Saint Mary’s has won each of its last 15 night games at University Credit Union Pavilion against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Merrimack has lost each of its last 10 road night games against non-Conference opponents.
- Saint Mary’s has won the first half in each of its last 18 games at University Credit Union Pavilion against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Why the Merrimack Warriors will win
- Merrimack has won each of its last 12 Thursday games.
St. Mary’s vs Merrimack Prediction
I’ll stay with St. Mary’s. The Gaels took a tough loss to a pretty good Boise State team in their last outing, thanks mostly to a rough 37.7 percent shooting from the field and a 38-29 rebounding deficit. Saint Mary’s has scored 71 or more points in every win this year—and fewer than 66 in both of their losses—so hitting that 70-point mark here will be important.
As for Merrimack, on Tuesday they didn’t shoot too badly from the field (43.6 percent) against Stanford but also got out-rebounded 38-31 and had 11 turnovers for 17 Cardinal points. The loss halted a four-game win streak for Merrimack, but they’ve still scored 68 or more points in five of the last seven games. That said, I don’t think the Warriors will keep pace too well in this one.