Dec. 8, 2007

Box Score

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. - Using a 3-pointer barrage and hot shooting, Laker Superior State turned a close game into a 16 point halftime lead and coasted to an 80-59 victory over the Mercyhurst men's basketball team in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., Saturday afternoon.

Six minutes into the first half, Mercyhurst (4-5, 1-2 GLIAC) and Lake Superior State, which was looking for its first win of the season--stood tied at 11-11. But the home team sank its next four 3-point attempts after missing three of its first four, and closed the half hitting 13-of-24 shots from the field.

In just eight minutes, the hot-shooting Lake Superior State Lakers turned a tie game into a 17-point lead before Mercyhurst received a jumper from freshman Anthony Terry, a 3-pointer from Terry Smith and another bucket from Milos Bogetic to halt the run. In the first half, Mercyhurst shot 10-of-30, while Lake Superior hit 18 of its 32 shots and shot 5-of-9 from 3-point range.

Mercyhurst managed to cut Lake Superior's lead down to 11 at 63-52 on a Smith 3-pointer with 6:20 remaining, but could not get any closer as the team converted on just three of its possessions the remainder of the contest.

Mercyhurst was led by Smith's 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting. It marked the seventh time this season that the senior tallied at least 18 points in a game. No other Laker, however, tallied double figures. Terry scored eight points and handed out a team-high four assists.

As a team, the Lakers shot 40 percent from the field and 8-of-27 from 3-point range. They also attempted only six free throws in the entire game.

Lake Superior State, which entered the game 0-7 and with only one game of scoring 70 points, drilled 53.6 percent of its shots, including 10-of-17 shooting from three.

Mercyhurst returns to the Mercyhurst Athletic Center on Wednesday, Dec. 12 to host Urbana at 8 p.m.