Box Score
ERIE, Pa. – Gannon's Travis Brannen scored a game-high 32 points and added 11 rebounds to lead four Golden Knights in double-digits to a 79-71 upset at No. 17 Mercyhurst College.
Luis Leao led the Lakers with 30 points in just 25 minutes of work while
Heiden Ratner added 14 points and
Jason Snow contributed 10 markers.
In the city-rivalry contest, the Lakers suffered their first divisional loss, moving to 10-1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West, 19-4 overall. The setback also snapped an 11-game winning streak for Mercyhurst. Meanwhile, Gannon's playoff hopes remain alive for one of the three remaining Western Division seeds as the Golden Knights improve 4-7 in the West, 13-10 overall.
With back-and-forth action for much of the first half in frenzied play, the teams knotted the score five different times before Gannon's Kelvin Agee sank a 3-pointer to take a 28-25 lead with 5:23 left to play.
Just under a minute later, Mercyhurst's
Andrew Rickard answered with a 3-ball of his own to tie the game once more, 28-28, with 4:42 to go.
However, Gannon used a 13-0 run to close out the first half behind a pair of Agee 3-pointers and went into the locker room with a 41-28 advantage.
In the first four minutes of the final stanza, the Lakers used a 10-2 burst to cut the deficit to five points, 43-38. A layup by Ratner at 14:55 pushed the Lakers to within four, and then a 3-pointer at 13:41 by Ratner pulled the Lakers to within four again, but that would be as close as Mercyhurst would get in the second half.
After Ratner's three, Gannon countered with a 3-ball from Brannen, who hit a perfect 8-for-8 from the field in the second half, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. All told, Brannen capped off his career night 13-of-15 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
From there, the Lakers pulled to within five after a 3-pointer by Leao at 10:23 but the Golden Knights were able to stretch the lead to 12 in the next six minutes for a 66-54 advantage.
The comeback kids looked like they were headed for another come-from-behind win when they put together a furious rally in the final two minutes. Down by 10 with 2:19 to play, the Lakers trimmed the deficit to six with 59 seconds after Rickard hit a clutch three from the corner by the Mercyhurst bench.
Leao's jumper with 37 seconds cut the Golden Knight lead to five once more, but the Lakers would get no closer as Gannon hit 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and added a layup by Brannen with nine seconds remaining.
Brannen's hot-shooting hand helped the Golden Knights to a 57.4 percent field-goal percentage, the highest allowed by a Western Division opponent this season for Mercyhurst. Meanwhile, the Lakers hit just 41.8 percent from the floor.
Mercyhurst returns to action in its final home game of the regular season on Saturday when the Lakers host Slippery Rock. The Rock sits in third place of the PSAC West with a 7-4 record, 17-8 overall. Tip-off for the contest is set for 3 p.m., with a Senior Day ceremony slated as part of the pre-game festivities.
