SPRINGFIELD, Mass. American International men's basketball junior guard Al-Shabazz Jabateh (East Ornage, N.J.) hit a go-ahead corner three to give AIC the lead with under a minute to go and the Yellow Jackets went on to outlast Merrimack 65-62 in a Northeast-10 tilt Wednesday night at Butova Gymnasium.

With the win AIC improves to 8-10 and 5-6 in conference play, while with the loss Merrimack drops to 7-10 and 5-7 in the NE-10.

Along with Jabateh's timely three, senior point guard Spencer Braithwaite (Dorcester, Mass.) hit four late free throws and accounted for five of AIC's final 11 points down the stretch to keep American International on top.

Junior guard Bobby Harris (Berlin, N.J.) launched a three with just over two minutes left in regulation to put AIC on top by two.

The Yellow Jackets held on to a 30-24 halftime advantage, but the Warriors kept it closer than it should have been, capitalizing off AIC mistakes.

Braithwaite finished with 18 including 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. AIC as a unit notched 10-of-14 from the line while Merrimack shot slightly worse, 8-of-14.

Harris ended with 16. Junior Marcus Porter (New Castle, Del.) was honored prior to the game for joining the 1,000 point club and finished with eight, while senior Jason Perrier (Bridgeport, Conn.) added nine off the bench.

Warrior sophomore Anthony Barry (Uxbridge, Mass.) net a game-high 23.

AIC returns to action Saturday, Jan. 25 when they travel to Assumption for a 3:30 p.m. tip-off in Worcester.