Boxscore
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Mercyhurst men's basketball team saw its six-game unbeaten streak come to an end on Saturday, falling 75-71 at West Chester in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover contest.
Heiden Ratner and
Jeremiah Wise posted a shared team-high 15 points and
Christian Cornelius added 14 markers to lead Mercyhurst (9-3). For the Golden Rams (10-2), Ralph Hegamin deposited a game-high 17 tallies while Kehinde Roberts contributed 13 markers and Kevon Davis rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points.
The Lakers never led in the game and entered halftime with a 42-31 deficit due in part to West Chester's 13-of-13 performance from the charity stripe. In comparison, the Lakers hit just five of seven from the free-throw line in the first half.
West Chester opened the second stanza with an 8-0 run and extended its lead to as many as 19 before Mercyhurst would mount a rally just over halfway through the period.
The Lakers cut the lead to single-digits with a 13-2 run at 13:16 thanks to 11 points from Ratner, including two 3-pointers.
However, the two squads would trade baskets for the next several possessions, with the Lakers slowly cutting the lead to five with 5:30 remaining.
The Golden Rams then added a 3-pointer by Elie Daniel and a Davis layup with 4:39 remaining to push WCU's lead back to eight but that would be the team's last field goal of the game.
The Lakers capitalized on the Golden Rams cold-spell with stingy defense and connected on four straight possessions to trim the eight-point deficit down to four with 1:13 remaining.
Cornelius' tip-in with 24 seconds left cut the lead to 73-71, but Roberts hit both of free throws with 16 seconds remaining to seal the West Chester win.
The Lakers hit 27-of-55 (49.1 percent) from the field while the Golden Rams connected on 24-of-50 (48 percent). Both teams were cold from behind the arc as the Lakers hit just 5-of-19 from 3-point land in comparison to WCU's 3-of-12 performance. The Lakers also held a rebounding advantage (33-26) but lost the battle at the free-throw line, hitting 12-of-17 while the Golden Rams nailed 24-of-30 attempts.
Next up for the Lakers is another PSAC crossover match. Mercyhurst will travel to Millersville tomorrow, Sunday, January 10 for a 3 p.m. matchup. The Lakers defeated Millersville 70-66 in overtime a year ago at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
