SALT LAKE CITY – Ancient State of Utah men’s basketball star Sam Merrill reached a career high and helped the Cleveland Cavaliers defeat the Houston Rockets in overtime.
Sam Merrill scores career-high in win over Rockets
The Cavaliers hosted the Rockets at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday, December 18.
Merrill scored a career-high 19 points to help the Cavs earn a 135-130 overtime victory over visiting Houston.
The former Aggie hit a three-pointer from 25 feet with 1:37 left in overtime to put Cleveland ahead on the scoreboard, 131-124.
The triple helped secure a five-point victory for the Cavaliers.
we’ll just leave this here. ✨@smerrill05 | #Let them know pic.twitter.com/WSIUqFW4fs
– Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 19, 2023
Merrill finished the contest scoring all 19 of his points on 6-11 shooting, including 5-10 from beyond the arc. He added four rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block in 24 minutes coming off the bench. Merrill posted a plus-13 rating, the highest plus-minus for anyone on the Cavaliers roster.
Our OT DAWG. #Let them know pic.twitter.com/BxxKhmIY96
– Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 19, 2023
Merrill entered the contest averaging 3.7 points per game on 38.1 percent shooting. He also averages 1.0 rebound, 0.7 assists and 0.2 blocks in 8.5 minutes per game. Merrill has played in 14 games this season.
With this victory, the Cavaliers improved their record to 15-12 on the season.
VICTORY MONDAY.
HIGHLIGHTS & STATISTICS????: https://t.co/UvwakAdGUv@betwayusa | #Let them know
– Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 19, 2023
Cleveland’s next game is at home against the Utah Jazz on December 20 at 5 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on KJZZ, Jazz+, NBA League Pass, KSL sports area (97.5 FM), KSLSports.com and the KSL Sports app.
About Sam Merrill
Before his professional career, the Bountiful High product was a star for the Aggies. During his time at USU, Merrill was honored as Honorable Mention AP All-American (2019), Mountain West Conference Player of the Year (2019), First Team All-Mountain West ( 2019 and 2020) and the MVP of the Mountain West tournament (2019 and 2020).
. @smerrill05 I check for the last time in the Spectrum to the chants of “MVP…MVP…”https://t.co/Oruur8C87O pic.twitter.com/hoZaTxW8SG
– Matthew L Glade (@matthewLksl) February 26, 2020
After an outstanding career at USU, Merrill was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans with the 60th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Merrill was sent to the Milwaukee Bucks in a trade draft.
RELATED: Former Utah State Guard Sam Merrill Selected by Milwaukee Bucks in 2020 NBA Draft
Since his rookie season, Merrill has played for the Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Cavaliers. He also played in the G League for the Memphis Hustle and the Cleveland Charge.
Some Btown legends making history! Ancient @BountifulHigh stars @smerrill05 And @Brady_BYU make big movements.@kslsports // #RollTribe pic.twitter.com/Qmk8W8qsw9
– Hemā Heimuli Jr. (@x_hems) December 30, 2020
In 2021, Merrill helped the Bucks win the NBA Finals.
During his NBA career, the Utah State alum averaged 3.5 points, 1.1 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.3 steals in his first 54 games played.
Kyle Ireland is an NFL Insider sports and local producer for KSLSports.com. He is also a co-host of the show Yards After College Podcast. Follow him on the discussions (@kyleirelandksl)Instagram (@kyleirelandksl). and@kyleireland).
