ERIE, Pa.- The Mercyhurst men's basketball team beat #10 Indiana (Pa.), 71-47, Saturday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. Steven Coleman scored a career-high 25 points on 9-10 shooting to lead the Lakers to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division victory. It is Hurst's first win over a Top 10 team since December 9, 2006.


After a first half that saw the two teams play evenly, Hurst dominated the second half. With the score tied at 25 with 18:40 left, Steven Coleman began a stellar second frame with a jumper. He followed with a coast-to-coast lay-in with 16:44 to go, putting the Lakers up 29-25.
 
Bill Weaver's layup gave the hosts a five-point edge a few minutes later and then Andrew Rickard nailed a three-pointer. After a Julian Sanders trey, Rickard followed with a triple of his own. Coleman was next with a three-point play with 11:06 to play, putting Hurst ahead 40-31. He drained a trey and then two free throws midway through the half, stretching the Mercyhurst advantage to 45-33.
 
Weaver made four free throws and then dunked with 6:05 remaining to give the home team a 55-37 lead. Coleman made a bucket, which Paul Bilbo followed with a layup. Coleman iced the game with another and-one with 4:14 on the clock, giving Hurst a 61-42 margin.
 
In the second half, Coleman hit all seven of his field goal attempts and 5-7 free throw tries, totaling 20 points.
 
At the start of the game, Coleman scored a lay-in off the tip. Sanders hit a basket and then a three on the other end, which Coleman answered with a trey. Matt Lee got involved with a triple and a jump shot to give his team a 10-9 edge. Rickard's three-pointer with 13:23 to go gave Mercyhurst a 13-9 lead.
 
Sanders hit a three, and after a Lee trey, Ashton Smith's layup cut the hosts' advantage to 19-16. Another Smith J got the Hawks within one. The teams went over three minutes without scoring from there, as Bilbo finally made a layup to end the drought. Anthony Wells' jumper and a Danny Ayebo free throw evened the score in the final minute, but Rickard hit an acrobatic shot just before the first-half buzzer to put the Lakers up 23-21 at the break.
 
The Lakers defeated Grand Valley State, 79-74, in the 2006-07 campaign, the last time Mercyhurst beat a Top 10 program. The 47 points allowed are the fewest by a Laker unit since 2008, when the Lakers beat Columbia Union, 64-43, at the MAC.
 
Coleman's 25 points led the way, but Hurst got strong efforts from several others as well. Weaver scored 12 points and pulled down five boards, while Rickard added 11  and five. Jamal Turner dished out eight assists against one turnover in 30 minutes. Freshman Terrence Ingram provided a spark off the bench, grabbing a team-high six rebounds in a career-high 19 minutes.
 
Smith led the Hawks with 18 points and Sanders had 13. Mercyhurst held the rest of the team to 5-24 shooting and 16 points. As a whole, IUP (13-3, 10-2 PSAC) shot 30.2 percent from the floor. Hurst hit 49 percent from the field, including 16-26 shots (61.5 percent) in the second half.
 
Hurst (11-5, 9-3 PSAC) heads to Edinboro for its next outing on Wednesday, January 25. The PSAC West contest is slated for a 7:30 p.m. start
 
For a box score of the IUP-Mercyhurst game, please click here.