ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst men's basketball team swept their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover weekend by downing the visiting Shepherd University Rams by a score of 69-59 on Sunday afternoon inside the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
In the opening five minutes there would be three ties to bring the game to 10-10 when Kyle Daggett hit a layup. Daniel McClain-Corley knocked down two free throws to make it 12-10 visitors, but
Steve Cannady quickly changed the scoreboard around with a triple. However, McClain-Corley came back with a three of his own to spark a 9-0 run finished off by a layup for Marcus Gorman to make it 21-13 Rams with 9:28 remaining. A pair of
Trystan Pratapas threes helped the Lakers to get within 23-19 at the 11:44 mark. Jarell Jones and Jon Preston helped Shepherd to push the advantage up to nine 30-21 with five minutes left.
MiyKah McIntosh buried a triple to cut it to 30-24 which led to an 11-2 Lakers rampage capped by a
Joel Ufele jumper to knot the score 32-32 just under two left.
Thomas Lang and
Zach McIntire exchanged jumpers to stay locked 34-34. However, the scoring for the half was not done as Lang would miss a three, but Ufele hauled in the rebound and he hit
Michael Bradley who delivered the three-quarters court shot to give Mercyhurst a 37-34 lead at the half.
The Lakers came out of the break fast with Ufele, McIntire, and
Nicholas Lang putting together a 8-3 push to snag a 45-37 edge with 17:48 left. With 15:33 remaining and the hosts holding on to a 45-38 advantage Ufele knocked down two at the charity stripe to make the lead 47-38. From there the home side took control using a 14-0 wrapped up by four straight for McIntosh to stretch the advantage to 21 at 59-38 at the 9:24 mark. Jarrell and Lang helped the Rams to get the margin down to 59-43 exactly at the ten minute mark. The Shepherd run came to a half as both teams went cold from the floor for the next two minutes leading to a media timeout with the score 59-43. The Lakers continued to maintain a sizeable gap until the 14:39 mark when Lang hit two free throws to spark an 11-0 run ended by a Lang jumper to trim the margin to 65-58 with 86-seconds to play. McIntosh and Ufele cashed in their opportunities to finish the game 69-59.
Mercyhurst shot 45.8% from the floor holding Shepherd to just 40%. The Lakers as a team were 53.3% beyond the arc and 17-18 on the charity stripe. Depth continues to be big for the Lakers as they had a 24-11 edge in bench scoring.
McIntosh had 16 to lead the team, while Ufele added 13. There were eight points each for McIntire, Cannady, and Pratapas. Ufele completed his double-double by recording 12 rebounds.
Lang (16), Jones (10), and McClain-Corley (10) paced the Rams offense.
Mercyhurst has some time before their next game as they will not take to the floor again until December 7th on the road at West Chester.
