Men's Basketball | 2/26/2017 8:51:00 PM

ERIE, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst men's basketball team will host Slippery Rock in a first-round matchup in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.

The Lakers and SRU split the regular-season series in 2016-17 with visiting teams winning each matchup. The Rock won on Jan. 3 at the MAC, 49-46, before Mercyhurst claimed an 81-72 road victory on Jan. 8.

Mercyhurst (13-13, 11-11) is the fourth seed in the PSAC West Division while SRU (14-14, 10-12) enters as the five-seed. The Lakers are the defending PSAC Tournament champions. They will make their eighth consecutive appearance in the conference tournament.

The Lakers and Rock have met twice before in the PSAC Tournament. SRU won a 2011 quarterfinal matchup, 51-45, before the Lakers returned the favor with a 77-69 quarterfinal victory in 2012.

In 2016-17, Durrell McDonald leads the MU offense with 15.5 points per game while Lorenzo Collier averages 13.0. McDonald is also the team's leading rebounder with 4.5 boards per game. H'ian Hale is second in the PSAC with 2.3 steals per game while averaging 4.0 assists.

Slippery Rock is led in scoring by Naquil Jones and Merdic Green, who average 14.0 and 10.9 points, respectively. Leading rebounder Christal Malalu averages 6.9 rebounds.

Admission to the game is $10 for adults and $5 for students. The winner will visit the No. 1 seed in the PSAC West, Indiana (Pa.), on Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. contest.

Click HERE for the official PSAC Tournament preview.