ERIE, Pa. - Sophomore
MiyKah McIntosh scored 24 points and only missed one shot from the field, and
Nicholas Lang drilled a late triple to help the Lakers earn Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference win number one 87-85 over the visiting Marauders of Millersville University on Saturday evening at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
The Lakers led early 5-2 thanks to a triple from McIntosh, but James Sullivan, Justin Nwosu, and Jaden Faulkner put together an 8-0 run in just shy of two minutes to head to the first media timeout up 10-5. Six minutes into the half the home team found themselves trailing 15-7, before
Joel Ufele and McIntosh each converted layups and
Steve Cannady added a pair on the stripe to close within 15-13 with 12 minutes remaining. A Sullivan three and a Faulkner bucket extended the Marauders advantage to 25-17 at the halfway point. It took almost three minutes before another bucket was scored as McIntosh drained a triple, followed by a
Trystan Pratapas three, and another bucket for McIntosh to draw level 25-25. The two teams exchanged 4-0 pushes to stay locked 29-29 with 3:45 to go. Faulkner would hit five straight on the line and
Andrew Seager got a layup for the hosts to put them down 34-31. McIntosh hit a driving layup with six-seconds left to leave the Lakers down 36-35 at the half.
It would take until the 3:08 mark for someone to grab larger than a two-point lead when
Zach McIntire delivered a three-pointer for the 47-44 edge. A layup by Ufele pushed it to 51-46 with 15:48 left. Caden Najdawi hit a layup on a pass by Faulkner to send the Marauders on a 6-2 charge to get within one 53-52 on a foul shot from Faulkner with 14:35 remaining. With the game locked 54-54, it would be Millersville who would look to gain some separation with foul shots for Najdawi and Sullivan coupled with a Sullivan layup to lead 59-54 still with 13 minutes left. The Marauders continued to lead out to 63-59 on another Najdawi basket, but jumpers by
Cameron Gross, McIntire, and McIntosh in quick succession got Mercyhurst ahead 65-63. The game stayed on the seesaw to the 6:26 mark when Khari Williams hit a layup to knot the score 72-72. A converted "and one" for Cannady made it 75-72, but Mekhi Hendricks hit a couple of free throws to cut the deficit to 75-74. The one-point edge held until 18:13 when Lang took a pass from Cannady and drilled a clutch three to make it 83-79. However, Millersville was not done as Faulkner netted four straight to close within 84-83 with 29-seconds left. After, McIntosh knocked down a pair and the lead was 86-83, Sullivan hit an elbow jumper to make it 86-85 with nine ticks left. On the ensuing inbounds pass Lang lost the ball and touched the side line giving the guests a chance, but they followed it up with a turnover allowing the Lakers to see out the win.
Millersville shot 61.2% from the floor to Mercyhurst 58.5%. The Lakers won the game off the bench outscoring the Marauders 30-7.
In addition to McIntosh, Ufele (16) and Cannady (12) were in double-figures for the Lakers. Lang fell just short adding nine. Ufele was the team's leading rebounder with five.
Three Marauders had 20-plus with Faulkner dropping 27, while Najdawi added 21 and Sullivan chipped in 20.
Mercyhurst returns to action tomorrow at 3pm when they host Shepherd University at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
