I'll Be Quirky: Merrimack

Boy was it hard to whittle down a favorite Charlie Kelly Sunny clip for today.

The Gang Won At The Palestra Friday afternoon, when Boogie Patterson and Preston Edmead combined to score the Dutchmen’s last seven points over the final 1:35 as the Flying Dutchmen outlasted La Salle and our old pals Joe Mihalich, Colin Curtin and Shane Nichols, 63-58, in the first game of the Cathedral Classic.

With the Dutchmen returning to action this afternoon against Merrimack in the Charlie Day Classic (I can barely contain my glee) and me writing this from a hotel room in Philadelphia, we’re going to change things up a bit by going with the boilerplate postgame material AND the next game’s preview but save the individual news and notes for a jam-packed edition tomorrow. So thus here is the recap of the win over the Explorers and a look ahead to the Little Green Ghouls, I mean, Milksteaks, I mean Spaghetti Policies, I mean, Warriors.

THE MOST RECENT GAME SUMMARIZED IN ONE PARAGRAPH

Cruz Davis scored a game-high 22 points, but Boogie Patterson and Preston Edmead had the biggest points as the Dutchmen frittered away a nine-point lead before ending the game on a 7-2 run. The Dutchmen trailed just five times — all in the first half and never by more than two points — but didn’t go ahead by more tan six points until German Plotnikov drained a 3-pointer and Davis followed with a layup to extend the lead to 54-45 with 8:11 left. But the Dutchmen went scoreless for the next five-plus minutes, during which they were 0-for-8 from the field with three turnovers, as La Salle pieced together a 9-0 run to tie the score on Rob Dockery’s layup with 2:33 left. Davis hit a jumper to end the drought and Jerome Brewer Jr. answered with a layup before Patterson put the Dutchmen ahead for good by hitting a pair of free throws. La Salle missed its next four shots, during which Edmead drilled the dagger 3-pointer with 46 seconds left. Brewer converted a third-chance jumper with eight seconds left but Edmead iced the win with two more free throws. Davis was 9-of-18 shooting, including 3-of-7 from 3-point land, while adding five assists, three rebounds and two steals. Patterson had 13 points, five rebounds and two steals while Edmead finished with 11 points, five assists and just one turnover. German Plotnikov had 12 points while Silas Sunday led the Dutchmen with six rebounds while adding two blocks in 20 minutes off the bench.

3 STARS OF THE GAME (vs. La Salle, 11/28)

3: Cruz Davis

2: Biggie Patterson

1: Preston Edmead

SEASON STANDINGS

Cruz Davis 14

Preston Edmead 9

Biggie Patterson 6

Victory Onuetu 4

Joshua DeCady 1

German Plotnikov 1

Silas Sunday 1

WAS THIS A UNICORN SCORE?

No! Another normal-looking score, so no big surprise. It’s also no big surprise that while the Dutchmen previously recorded at least two 63-58 wins, the most recent one prior to Saturday was way back on Feb, 27, 1989, when the Dutchmen beat Lafayette in an ECC clash. I was a sophomore in high school! 

The Dutchmen have no unicorn score victories this season and 60 unicorn score victories since the start of the 2018-19 season, when we first started tracking unicorn scores.

2025-26: Zero unicorn scores

2024-25: Seven unicorn scores

2023-24: Seven unicorn scores

2022-23: 12 unicorn scores

2021-22: 11 unicorn scores

2020-21: Zero unicorn scores (really)

2019-20: 13 unicorn scores

2018-19: 10 unicorn scores

The term unicorn score was coined by Mets superfan, historian and blogger Greg Prince to describe a score by which the Mets had never previously won. You may also know it as a “Scorigami,” a term popularized in the NFL.

WHO HAD THE KEITH HERNANDEZ?

Welcome to the club, Biggie Patterson, who hit the free throw that gave the Dutchmen the lead for good at 55-54 with 1:35 left Friday. Patterson is the 16th player to record a Keith Hernandez (at least since the 2022-23 season) and the first to do so via a free throw since Jean Aranguren did so with 4:58 left in overtime in a 75-71 win over Massachusetts on Nov. 16, 2024.

SEASON STANDINGS

Biggie Patterson 1

Preston Edmead 1

German Plotnikov 1

ALL-TIME STANDINGS (or at least since the 2022-23 season)

Tyler Thomas 16

Darlinstone Dubar 14

Jean Aranguren 5

German Plotnikov 4

Aaron Estrada 4

Cruz Davis 3

Michael Graham 3

Warren Williams 3

Silas Sunday 2

Jacco Fritz 2

Jaquan Carlos 2

Biggie Patterson 1

Preston Edmead 1

Eric Parnell 1

KiJan Robinson 1

Bryce Washington 1

The Keith Hernandez is bestowed upon the player who scores the points that put the Dutchmen ahead for good in a victory. The stat pays homage to Hernandez, the World Series-winning Cardinals and Mets first baseman who had a record 129 game-winning RBIs when the stat was inexplicably discontinued after the 1988 season.

THE FLYING DUTCHMEN AFTER SIX GAMES

The Dutchmen improved to 3-3 with Friday’s win. This ties the 2025-26 team for the 40th-best record in school history through six games. That’s the upper 50 percent! Twenty-eight other teams began 3-3, most recently the 2020-21 squad. Here is how some notable Hofstra teams have fared through six games:

NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAMS

1975-76: 3-3

1976-77: 5-1

1999-2000: 3-3

2000-01: 5-1

2019-20 (IT COUNTS TO US): 4-2

NIT TEAMS

1998-99: 2-4

2004-05: 6-0 (most recent 6-0 start)

2005-06: 4-2

2006-07: 3-3

2015-16: 4-2

2018-19: 3-3

2022-23: 4-2

Some other notable six-game starts:

2024-25: 4-2 (most recent 4-2 start)

2021-22: 2-4 (most recent 2-4 start)

2013-14: 2-4 (Joe Mihalich’s first team)

2012-13: 3-3 (last time at .500 that season because…well, you know)

2010-11: 3-3 (Mo Cassara’s first team)

2008-09: 5-1 (most recent 5-1 start)

2007-08: 1-5 (most recent 1-5 start)

2002-03: 1-5 (loss in sixth game was third loss in eight-game losing streak, tied for the longest of the Tom Pecora era)

2001-02: 4-2 (Tom Pecora’s first team)

1994-95: 1-5 (Jay Wright’s first team)

1993-94: 1-5 (VBK’s last team)

1982-83: 6-0

1978-79: 3-3 (last time at .500)

1973-74: 0-6 (most recent 0-6 start, Hofstra won game no. 7 and has never started 0-7)

1969-70: 0-6 (first 0-6 start)

1960-61: 6-0

1969-60: 6-0

1955-56: 6-0 (Butch van Breda Kolff improves to .500)

1954-55: 6-0

1952-53: 5-1 (first loss in sixth game)

1951-52: 6-0

1948-49: 6-0

1947-48: 6-0 (Frank Reilly improves to .500)

1943-44: 3-3 (last time at .500)

Full records not available for the following seasons: 1936-37, 1941-42, 1942-43.

This feature is inspired by Mets superfan and blogger Greg Prince, who measures how the current Mets compare, record-wise, to previous teams through the same point in the season.

NUMBER TEN THROUGH ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE

With Friday’s win, Speedy Claxton improved to 84-55 (.604) as head coach. That’s the fourth-best known winning percentage for a Hofstra coach through his first 139 games at the helm.

Butch van Breda Kolff I 103-36 (.741, 139th game was the 13th game of his sixth season in 1960-61)

Frank Reilly 100-39 (.719, 139th game was the 10th game of his sixth season in 1952-53) 

Paul Lynner 88-51 (.633, 139th game was the fourth game of his sixth season in 1967-68) 

SPEEDY CLAXTON 84-55 (.604, 138th game was the fifth game of his fifth season in 2025-26) 

Joe Mihalich 72-67 (.518, 139th game was the sixth game of his fifth season in 2017-18) 

Dick Berg 70-69 (.504, 139th game was the 29th and final game of his fifth season in 1984-85) 

Tom Pecora 70-69 (.504, 139th game was the 19th game of his sixth season in 2005-06) 

Roger Gaeckler 69-70 (.496, 139th game was the seventh game of his sixth season in 1977-78) 

Butch van Breda Kolff II 69-70 (.496, 139th game was the 25th game of his fifth season in 1992-93) 

Jay Wright 68-71 (.489, 139th game was the 26th game of his fifth season in 1998-99) 

A couple notable wins in game no. 139 as Frank Reilly becomes the second Hofstra head coach with 100 wins and our pal Tom Pecora moves close to shedding his perpetual slacker status by getting over .500 for the first time since his first team was 5-4 on Dec. 21, 2001. He went 130 games in between winning records! Pecora climbs into a tie for sixth place with Dick Berg, who completes his fifth season at the helm with a loss in the ECC Tournament, while perpetual slacker Jay Wright slips back into sole possession of last place with a loss in game no. 139. Perpetual slacker!

The records are incomplete for Jack McDonald’s first stint from 1936 through 1943 as well as the tenure of Jack Smith (1943-46).

Smith finished 27-32 in his three seasons while Mo Cassara finished 38-59 in his three seasons. Three coaches had one-season tenures lasting at Hofstra. McDonald went 18-6 in the lone season of his second stint in 1946-47 while Joe Harrington went 14-14 in 1979-80 and Mike Farrelly went 13-10 in 2020-21.

OVER THE AIR

Today’s game is slated to be carried live on ESPNPlus, which you have if you have the Disney Bundle, which you have if you have a child under 18. (Alas mine mostly watches Max, Netflix and YouTube, sigh) Hofstra will provide a radio feed as well as live stats at the Pride Productions hub.

MERRIMACK AND THE MAAC

Merrimack, under 10th-year head coach and basketball alum Joe Gallo, is 2-5 this season after opening Cathedral Classic play Friday with a 77-65 loss to Pennsylvania.

Merrimack was picked to finish seventh in the 13-team MAAC. The Warriors return just two players from last year’s team — sophomore guard Tye Dorset and graduate student Malik Edmead, who is indeed the older brother of the Dutchmen’s phenom freshman Preston Edmead.

Junior Ernest Shelton, who played the previous two seasons at Division II Gannon University, leads Merrimack with 17.1 points per game. True freshman Kevair Kennedy is averaging 14.0 points per game and a team-high 3.0 assists per game while sharing the team lead at 4.6 rebounds per game with junior Todd Brogna, who spent the previous two seasons with Stonehill. Graduate student Andres Marrero, who spent the previous three seasons with La Salle, is averaging 9.9 points per game.

Per KenPom.com, Merrimack ranks 273rd nationally in offensive efficiency (102.0 points per 100 possessions) and 246th in defensive efficiency (111.0 points per 100 possessions) while ranking 315th in tempo (67.0 possessions per 40 minutes).

The Dutchmen and Warriors have four common opponents this season. The Dutchmen are slated to play Pennsylvania in Sunday’s Cathedral Classic finale, when Merrimack is scheduled to play La Salle. Merrimack will face Iona, which beat the Dutchmen 81-73 on Nov. 7, and Quinnipiac, which is scheduled to visit Hofstra on Dec, 21, twice apiece in MAAC play.

Hofstra and Merrimack have never faced each other in men’s basketball. 

This marks just the eighth all-time meeting between the schools in any sport since Merrimack moved to Division I for the 2019-20 school year. The Flying Dutchwomen field hockey team is 2-0 all-time against Merrimack while the volleyball team beat the Warriors in 2023. The baseball and men’s lacrosse teams are each 1-1 against Merrimack.

Hofstra is 107-120 all-time against current MAAC schools. The Dutchmen are playing at least two MAAC foes this season for the 17th time in the last 20 seasons. 

At KenPom.com, Hofstra is ranked 149th while Merrimack is ranked 272nd. KenPom.com predicts a 73-67 win for the Dutchmen. Per the wise guys in Vegas, for entertainment purposes only…well, I couldn’t find a line in the overnight hours, but I’ll be a degenerate for you guys and look it up before the game so I can keep the running tally. The Dutchmen are 4-1 against the spread this season.

THINGS YOU CAN SHOUT ON TWITTER (OR BLUESKY) IF CALLS GO DO NOT GO HOFSTRA’S WAY

Charlie Day bias! (You know I’m gonna love that one)

Spaghetti policy bias! (And that one)

Kitten mittons bias! (And that one)

Bill Herrion bias! (The former Drexel, East Carolina and New Hampshire head coach graduated from Merrimack)

Your school name sounds like a line in a Billy Joel song bias! (Playing in the Cathedral Classic will draw you Merrimack mack mack mack mack!)