ERIE, Pa. - Fresh off a run to the Elite Eight where they dropped a hard fought game to eventual National Champion Northwest Missouri State the Mercyhurst men's basketball team begins the 2019-2020 with a visit from Division III D'Youville College at 7pm inside the Mercyhurst Athletic Center on Friday night.
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Scouting the Lakers:
Mercyhurst will enter the season for the 17th time under the direction of head coach
Gary Manchel and will look to return to NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. This version of the Lakers will bring back five players from last year's squad in
MiyKah McIntosh,
Zach McIntire,
Trystan Pratapas,
Nicholas Lang, and
Jared Fagan, while adding ten brand new guys into the mix. Mercyhurst will seek to grow upon their stifling defense that saw them rank second in the country in scoring defense holding opponents to just 60.7 points per game along with placing sixth in scoring margin at the +13.7 ppg. As a team the Lakers shot just shy of 46% from the floor, 39.1% beyond the arc, and below 70% from the charity stripe. On the glass they averaged 37.2 rebounds per game allowing their challengers to pull down only 32.6 per contest. McIntosh and Pratapas are the leading returning scorers for Mercyhurst netting 7.9 and 7.2 ppg respectively. None of the Lakers leading blockers and rebounders from last season are back putting pressure on freshmen
Andrew Seager, Trey Hoepner,
Owen Chambers, and
Michael Bradley, in addition to transfers
Steve Cannady,
Junior Oscar, Danny Ogele,
Melkisedek Moreaux,
Cameron Gross, and
Joel Ufele to fill in the pieces to bring the team back to contention in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division.
Scouting the Spartans:
D'Youville plays in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference at the Division III level and is coming off an 11-15 season and a 9-9 mark in conference. The Spartans are lead by Earl Schunk in his ninth season. They averaged 78.2 ppg on 45.5% shooting from the floor and 34.6% outside the arc. D'Youville hauled in 41.3 rebounds, but they averaged more than 16 turnovers per contest. Two of the four leading scorers for the Spartans return led by Grant Beyer and Devon Darrell as they combined for over 22 points per game. Beyer is also the leading rebounder ripping down 3.9 boards per game. Darrell will be expected to run the floor in his second season building on his 3.5 assists per game. D'Youville was the preseason ninth pick in the AMCC poll.
PSAC Preseason Poll:
1) Indiana (Pa.) - 7 first place votes
2) Slippery Rock
3) Pitt-Johnstown - 2 first place votes
4) Mercyhurst
5) Cal U
6) Gannon
T7) Edinboro
T7) Seton Hill
9) Clarion
Waiting in the Water:
Mercyhurst will return to action next Thursday, November 14th when they travel to Amherst, New York for a date with the 18th-ranked Wildcats of Daemen College.
