Jan. 10, 2008

Box Score

Erie, Pa. - In 14 years as a head coach, Mercyhurst's Gary Manchel has always been defensive minded. And on Thursday, his Lakers stymied Ashland's shooters, holding them to 32 percent shooting and paving the way to Manchel's 200th career victory by an 81-75 score in overtime in the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.

The game stood tied at 64 through 40 minutes but in the overtime session, the Lakers held Ashland to just 2-of-12 shooting and 0-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Along with playing stellar defensively, the Lakers caught fire in the extra session, especially from the free throw line where they had struggled all night.

Mercyhurst converted just 2-of-10 from the stripe through regulation, but in overtime, the Lakers cashed 8-of-10 and made five in a row--three from Anthony Terry and two from Brian McTear--in the final 26 seconds to keep Ashland at bay. The Lakers outscored Ashland 17-11 in the overtime.

It was McTear and his career performance that kept the Lakers in front. He finished the game with his first career double-double, producing career highs in points with 20 and assists with 10.

McTear's biggest shot of the night came with 1:49 left in the extra session and the Lakers trailing 69-68. He drilled a three from the left wing to put the Lakers up for good. After an Ashland miss, he grabbed one of his career-high seven rebounds which led to Terry finding Ryann Bradford for two insurance points with just over one minute remaining.

Bradford's bucket capped a career scoring night for him, as well. He finished with a career-high 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, five of which were on the offensive end.

Mercyhurst, which snapped a two-game skid with the victory, jumped out to an early lead in the first period despite playing without leading scorer Terry Smith, who was mired in foul trouble.

After building a 31-27 edge at the half, Smith reentered and provided some offensive firepower, drilling four second-half threes, including one on the first possession of the half, to finish with 12 points. He also got into the act defensively, finishing with four steals.

Mercyhurst's lead grew to as many as 12 points at the 18:13 mark with a layup by Bradford. Ashland, however, refused to go away and slowly chipped away at the lead using a 3-point barrage from Brett Bartlett. Bartlett had hit five threes in a win over the Lakers last season, and on Thursday, he drilled 7-of-14 for 31 points.

Bartlett's shooting helped Ashland score 37 in the second half on 12-of-28 shooting.

The Lakers made 13 3-pointers of their own but hoisted up 38 on the game. The Lakers closed the game shooting 41.4 percent from the field.

Also aiding the Laker effort was senior T.J. Mathis, who scored 10 points, and junior Milos Bogetic added nine points and 10 rebounds.

With the win, the Lakers move above .500 at 8-7 overall and improve to 2-3 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Ashland falls to 9-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play.

The Lakers will look for their second-straight conference win on Saturday at 3 p.m., against No. 8-ranked Findlay. The game can be viewed on the Internet via the B2 Networks.