Men’s Basketball Suffers First Loss of the Season Against Merrimack
By D’Juan Conley | November 10, 2026
On Sunday, Nov. 8, the University at Albany men’s basketball team lost to the Merrimack Warriors 73-60.
“No excuses, just the reality of what it is, and we've got to fight through it. And I think to do it, you know, we've got to have a little bit more composure," said Great Dane coach Dwayne Killings.
The scoring started with Merrimack guard Alexander Lesburt Jr.’s first three-pointer of the afternoon, at the 19:06 mark of the first half. The first points for the Great Danes came after Ollie Engen split a pair of free throws.
Freshman U-Mier Graham scored back-to-back baskets for the Great Danes to even the score at five, about three minutes into the game 7-5.
Despite a slow start from the field, Merrimack still found their way to the line, shooting four free throws following two early fouls by Great Dane guard Zacharie Matulu. This gave the Warriors a 11-7 lead, only six minutes into the first half.
The scoring in the game began picking up when Warrior Ayden Johnson scored a three-pointer that was followed up with an answer from Engen, bringing the score 14-10 in favor of the Warriors.
Both teams traded baskets for the next few possessions, before another three-pointer from Engen and a Merrimack turnover led into a media timeout, with the Warriors holding a 20-15 lead at the 9:51 mark of the half.
The final four minutes began with a three-pointer from Lesburt Jr., his third of the game. UAlbany responded with back-to-back baskets from Tyler Jones and Engen. Lesburt Jr. then hit his fourth three-pointer to expand the Warrior lead to eight points at 29-21 with just over two and half remaining
The first half ended with a last-second foul called on the Danes. Merrimack split the free throws, before going back to the locker room with a 30-26 lead.
The Great Danes committed 14 turnovers in the first half. Merrimack was unable to capitalize fully off of these turns, but they did shoot 5-12 from the three-point line and 5-8 from the free throw line.
Lesburt Jr. led all scoring in the first half with 14 points, and Graham led the Danes with 11 points followed by Jones with eight, and Engen with seven, with those three scorers accounting for all of UAlbany's first-half scoring.
The second half's scoring opened the same way as the first half, with a three-pointer from Lesburt Jr. Tyler Jones responded with a pull-up jumper, bringing the score to 33-28.
Merrimack ran much of the same zone defense that gave the Danes issues in the first half, forcing two turnovers in the first two minutes of the half.
The three-point success for Merrimack continued early in the half. Lesburt Jr. drained his forth three-pointer, and another from Warrior Denver Anglin forced the Danes to call a timeout, with 16:22 remaining in the games with the score at 40-30.
Following a timeout, Engen hit a shot to cut the Merrimack lead to 8.
UAlbany’s U-Mier Graham and Merrimack's Jeremiah Anderson hit back-to-back baskets to keep the difference at eight with 14:47 remaining.
Jones scored his second basket of the half, followed by a dunk from Matulu to cut the Merrimack lead to 43-38.
The Great Dane's offensive rebounding injected momentum into the game, as a five point scoring run started for Matulu with a rebound and a play back from the guard. This was followed up with a three from Matulu, to tie the game at 43, forcing Merrimack to call a timeout with 12:26 remaining.
Warriors Ayden Johnson, Denver Anglin, and John Skoric pushed the Merrimack lead to seven after three straight buckets.
The Warriors scoring run was ended after an and-one from Great Dane Papa Kounta and a basket from Erwann Bussing with just over nine minutes remaining in the game to bring the score to 50-48 in favor of Merrimack.
The Warriors went on another 7-0 scoring run, finding points at both the free throw line and the 3 point line. With a three-pointer, coming from both Lesburt Jr. and Johnson respectively, to bring the score to 57-48 with 6:21 remaining.
The Great Danes called a timeout with the score sitting at 68-55 in favor of Merrimack, with just under two and a half minutes remaining.
Out of the timeout, Graham hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to 10. A quick-response layup from Merrimack’s Ayden Johnson mostly shut the door on a Great Dane comeback, with only 1:03 remaining.
Free throws from Merrimack's Jeremiah Anderson and Lesburt Jr. sealed the 73-60 victory for the Merrimack Warriors.
Merrimack’s Lesburt Jr. ended the game as the leading scorer, finishing with 25 points and going 7-12 from the three-point line. Ollie Engen led UAlbany with 17 points, followed by freshmen U-Mier Graham and Tyler Jones, with 16 for Graham and 13 for Jones, respectively.
The Danes are back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 11 for their Veterans Day Matinee game versus Dartmouth at 1 p.m. at Broadview Center.
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