NORTH ANDOVER — Darren Duncan says toughness is the one thing Merrimack College needs to make some noise in the NCAA Division 2 men's basketball tourney.
That's something he's never lacked.
You don't go from seventh man in high school to three-time first-team All-Northeast-10 Conference without toughness.
You don't score 2,027 points without toughness.
You don't go from hardscrabble Queens to bucolic North Andover without toughness.
You don't lead a program to its greatest run in its 61-year history without toughness.
At just 5-11, 170 pounds, you don't start all 115 games of your career, as a marked man in one of the most physical conferences in the country, without toughness.
The Warriors will take on archrival UMass Lowell in a Northeast Regional first-round matchup Saturday at noon at Stonehill College.
Like the Division 1 tourney, 64 teams make the original cut.
"I'm excited that we get a chance to play again,'' said Duncan, who yesterday was named first-team All-East Region for the second straight year. "Lowell happens to be the opponent that we drew. It's not like we are looking for revenge.''
Although when the River Hawks ousted Merrimack in the Northeast-10 semifinals, at one point Duncan and Lowell coach Greg Herenda didn't look like they were exchanging pleasantries.
Duncan denied any bad blood.
"Coach Herenda went here (Class of '83) and played under Coach (Bert) Hammel. He gets fired up and I get fired up.''
Duncan will really get fired up if the Warriors can win a few games. To do that, they'll have to rebound. Lowell hammered them on the boards last week (52-36) and the Warriors, who lost 6-7, 230-pound senior Jared Brownlee (academics) before the season, are being outrebounded by 7.2 rebounds a game.
"The first thing is toughness,'' said Duncan, who won't turn 22 until November. "That makes up for a lot of things. Especially with rebounding. We haven't established a toughness yet. That's what we are working on in practice. Once we do that, I think we can make a long tourney run.''
His long run with the Warriors is fast coming to an end. It's a day he's dreading.
"It's going to be sad,'' said Duncan, who has lead Merrimack to three straight NCAA berths for the first time in school history. "It will be a sad day, unless it is a championship. Then the next day will be sad. I'm not ready for it to end.''
Neither is Merrimack, because until Duncan led the Warriors to three straight NCAA appearances, the Warriors had only made it once in the previous 15 years.
"A player like Darren comes along about once every lifetime for a coach," said 30th-year head coach Hammel. "He is just a flat-out player. He's distinguished himself as a truly great point guard with his ability to not just find his teammates, but score when the team needs him to."
As a reserve at national powerhouse Christ the King, Duncan was lightly recruited. But he knew he had what it took.
"My mindset was, if I can compete with these guys, I can compete with anyone.''
A perfect illustration of the talent level Duncan encountered was during the interview as he interjected, "I'm actually watching Malik Boothe right now.''
Boothe, playing on ESPN for St. John's in the Big East tourney, was the starting point guard in front of Duncan.
He never bought into Boothe being better than him.
"As a competitor, I feel I'm the best player on the court,'' said Duncan, who is close friends with UConn women's All-American Tina Charles, another CTK alum. "That's how you have to feel. In high school, I felt I was the best, but the coach thought differently. It worked out for everyone.''
Given his spectacular career for the Warriors, did he think of giving Division 1 ball a shot?
"No,'' he said simply. "A lot of people throw that out, but once you build a home, you want to stay there. You want to keep that family environment.''
The Starting Lineups
Merrimack Warriors (20-8)
PlayerPositionHeightYearPoints
Aaron Strothers Forward 6-7Soph.10.2
Craig Woehnker Forward6-3Sr.5.8
Wayne Mack Guard5-10Soph.9.9
Darren Duncan Guard5-11Sr.19.2
Darin Mency Guard6-2Jr.16.4
Coach: Bert Hammel (30th year, 447-407)
UMass Lowell River Hawks (20-11)
PlayerPositionHeightYearPoints
Ali KanaanForward 6-9Sr.8.0
Max KermanForward6-1Jr.5.7
Scott Tavares-Taylor Guard5-9Frosh.6.4
Robert WaltonGuard6-0Soph.2.4
Kyle CaiolaGuard5-10Soph.20.4
Coach: Greg Herenda (2nd year, 41-19)
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