Nov. 29, 2007

Box Score

Erie, Pa. - Senior Terry Smith became the 15th player in Mercyhurst history to score 1,000 points, and the Lakers received a career night from senior Cory Tubo, but Michigan Tech, using clutch free throw shooting down the stretch, held off a late Laker charge and sent Mercyhurst to a 69-62 defeat at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center Thursday evening.

Michigan Tech (3-2, 1-0 GLIAC) received a 3-pointer from Kevin Maloney with 9:01 remaining to push the lead to 57-43. That would be the final field goal scored by the Huskies. Mercyhurst (3-3, 0-1 GLIAC) pulled to within two points with a 3:06 left, but 12-of-14 shooting from the stripe by Huskies over the final nine minutes was just enough for conference opening victory.

Sparking Mercyhurst's late rally was Tubo. He entered the evening with a career high of eight points and he nearly doubled that total, scoring 10 of his 15 points in the final 5:38. He sank three buckets and went 4-of-4 from the line down the stretch. He finished the evening without missing a shot, going 5-of-5 from the field and 5-of-5 from the line.

Riding Tubo's heroics, the Lakers cut the lead to 60-56 with 3:43 left and on the next possession, T.J. Mathis, who finished with a game-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, hit a pair of free throws to crawl to within two.

Tech's Kris Alpers, however, answered with two free throws of his own, building the lead back to four, and that would be as close as Mercyhurst would get, as they missed three-straight 3-point attempts.

While Mercyhurst hit 16-of-17 charity tosses in the second period, Michigant Tech hit 26-of-31 on the game. Alpers scored 10 of his 14 points from the line. Preseason All-GLIAC pick Tim Strom scored 14 but was pestered by the undersized Mathis all evening, and Mathis forced four turnovers and recorded two steals.

Four Lakers managed double figure scoring. Junior Brian McTear totaled 13 points, giving him double digits in four of the team's five games this year. Smith chipped 11, giving him exactly 1,000 points for his career.

His milestone moment came on a pair of free throws with 6:18 remaining in the game. With Thursday's performance, he moved into 15th place on the school's all-time scoring list.

Mercyhurst will look for its 500th win as a program on Saturday when it hosts conference foe Northern Michigan at 3 p.m.