STROUDSBURG, Pa. - The host East Stroudsburg University Warriors shot 10-12 from behind the arc in the second and used their strong shooting to defeat the Mercyhurst men's basketball team by a final of 83-64 in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East/West crossover game on Saturday night at the Koehler Fieldhouse.

The Lakers jumped out early 4-0 with all points coming from Joel Ufele, but a three by Marc Rodriguez had the hosts right back within one 4-3 at the 2:39 mark.  A layup by Cameron Gross made it 6-3, however at that moment East Stroudsburg turned up the heat defensively with buckets from Kitt Najee Walls, Montrel Morgan, Zach Sabol and Carlos Pepin organizing an 11-0 run to lead 14-6 with 11:49 remaining.  Bradley would knock down a pair of distance shots to try and cut into the deficit, unfortunately, Morgan and Walls answered him shot for shot to maintain the 20-12 cushion with 8:18 to play.  Pepin pushed the advantage to double-digits on another three out of the corner at 25-15, but an old-fashioned three-point play finished off by Steve Cannady trimmed the margin to 25-18 at the 14:34 mark.  Four points by Troy Jones assisted a 9-3 home run to end the half with the only Mercyhurst points on a three for Trystan Pratapas to leave the Lakers down 34-21 at the break.  ESU carried the edge 17-8 on the glass in the first 20-minutes leading to 13 additional shots

A layup and pair of free throws by MiyKah McIntosh helped the visitors to close to within 36-25, but three balls by Pepin and Morgan allowed the Warriors to maintain their distance 42-28 with 17:34 to go.  After a couple of scoreless minutes buckets inside the painted area from Bradley and Gross pulled the away team the closest they had been in a while at 42-32 with 15-minutes remaining.  After Bradley split a pair on the stripe to close within 42-33, baskets from Jones, Pepin, Rodriguez, and Walls opened the advantage back out to 52-35 at the 8:30 mark.  Nicholas Lang and Pratapas accounted for the next six Lakers points, unfortunately a three and a layup from Rodriguez kept the margin in double-digits 58-43 under ten minutes to go.  Mercyhurst picked up the next five to cut into the deficit on two foul shots by Gross along with a three for Bradley to get the score down to 58-48 with 7:45 left.  Morgan scored the ensuing eight Warriors points making the margin 66-52.  The Lakers got to within 11 on three separate occassions with the last one coming on a Ufele layup at the 16:20 mark, but it was not enough as ESU closed on an 11-3 run for the 83-64 final.

Mercyhurst shot an even 50% from the floor, 33.3% from deep and 81.8% at the line, while ESU was 52.8% in the field, 64% outside, and 73.3% on the charity stripe.   The Lakers bench held a 17-12 edge, and Mercyhurst led 28-18 in points in the paint.

Bradley and McIntosh led the Lakers in scoring with 14 and 11 respectiely.  Gross and Ufele each added eight, while Lang chipped in nine off the bench.  Ufele was the leading rebounder with five.

Pepin along with Morgan each poured in a game-high 17.  Walls (16) and Rodriguez (13) completed the double-digit scorers for the Warriors.  Michal Weiss was the game's leading rebounder pulling down nine.

Mercyhurst will now have some time to relax and get ready for the PSAC West schedule which begins with their next contest on Friday, January 3rd when they welcome the Griffins of Seton Hill University to the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.