ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst men's basketball team and visiting Le Moyne College Dolphins each shot over 40% from the field and beyond the arc, but the visitors made 13 triples to the Lakers nine to hold off a late Mercyhurst comeback bid by a final of 76-66 on Saturday afternoon at the Athletic Center in non-conference action.
BB Chuks-Mady got the guests on the board right off the opening tap with a layup, but the Lakers took their first lead with 18:42 left as
MiyKah McIntosh canned a triple for the 3-2 edge.
Zach McIntire hit the hosts second three of the contest to extend the advantage to 6-2. The scoring continued on the next visiting possession as
Ryan Roland knocked home a shot from distance to trim the gap to 6-5.
Michael Bradley at the five minute mark added three more for the Lakers with a tough pull-up and foul shot.
Baskets for McIntire as well as
Steve Cannady kept the home side up four 14-10 with 11:14 remaining. At that point the Dolphins picked up the offensive play as five each for Malik Garner and Tim Leavell along with a two for Lonnie Rivera capped a 14-3 run to open up a 24-17 lead at the under eight media timeout. McIntosh tried to single-handedly stop the momentum with a three-pointer and a pull-up jumper to cut it to 26-22. Triples for Tom Brown and Roland quickly helped the Dolphins to push the advantage out to double-digits 32-22 with 2:31 to go.
Trystan Pratapas helped the home side to stay close by knocking home a three and a mid-range jumper making it 36-27. However, free throws for Chuks-Mady pushed it back to 38-27, before McIntire would go coast-to-coast on the final play of the half to make it 38-29 at the break.
The teams exchanged baskets to begin the second period, but consecutive Roland triples turned a nine-point game into a 15-point cushion for the Dolphins at 46-31 with 17:35 left.
Joel Ufele picked up back-to-back layups cutting it down to 46-35, 3:23 into the frame. Unfortunately, shots from distance by Brown, Leavell and Roland coupled with a Brown jumper finished an 14-2 charge to grab the largest lead of the contest 60-37 still with 12 minutes to play. With 8:53 left a McIntire three sparked a huge 19-2 run for the Lakers that saw McIntosh, McIntire, and
Nicholas Lang all contribute to close the deficit to 66-59 with with 3:19 remaining.
Another Dolphin three this time by Leavell allowed Le Moyne to get eight of the next ten points to push the advantage back to double-digits 74-61.
Andrew Seager, McIntosh, and Bradley would score down the stretch for the hosts but it would not be enough as the horn sounded with the 76-66 final.
Le Moyne shot 45.2% from the field and 40.6% beyond the arc to Mercyhurst 42.4% and 42.9%. For the first time this season the Lakers were outscored off the bench 28-15.
McIntosh (19), McIntire (15), and Pratapas (11) all finished in double-figures for Mercyhurst. Ufele was the team's leading rebounder with 11.
Leavell had a game-high 24, while Brown finished a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards. Roland added 17.
The Lakers return to action on Friday, December 20 and Saturday, December 21 when they visit Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg in PSAC play.
