WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The Mercyhurst men's basketball team held a nine-point lead late into the second half, but was unable to hold on as No. 25 West Chester took advantage of 51 free throw attempts to knock off the Lakers by a final of 83-80 in overtime in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference action on Saturday at Hollinger Field House.
West Chester started the game strong Robbie Heath and Tim Toro engineered a 12-0 run to begin the afternoon.
Andrew Seager finally put Mercyhurst on the scoreboard at the 4:21 mark. That was quickly added on to by layups for
Nicholas Lang and
Joel Ufele to trim the margin to 12-6 with 14:35 to play. A triple for
Trystan Pratapas and a bucket from Seager kept the Lakers close bringing the gap to five 11-6. After a foul shot for Heath extended the lead to 17-11, consecutive threes knocked down by
Steve Cannady brought the visitors level at for the first time since it was 0-0 at 17-17. Ufele gave the Lakers their first edge of the contest with a jumper in the paint set up by a steal from
Cameron Gross. Over the ensuing six minutes the game was on the seesaw with neither side able to grab larger than a two-point cushion as a Malik Jakcson layup leveled the score up at 30-30 with 3:45 remaining. The away team continued to hit from the perimeter with
Michael Bradley sticking a pair of triples in the midst of a 7-0 push over a 1:19 span to make it 37-30. Heath and Jackson each drilled two from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to 39-35 at the break.
Bradley would hit a jumper 33-seconds into the second half to stretch the advantage to 41-35, but four straight by Heath made it 41-39 with only 97-seconds off the clock. With Mercyhurst still in front 44-41 they looked to take control as
MiyKah McIntosh, Gross, and Bradley put together an 8-2 run to grab their largest lead of the game at nine, 52-43. The Golden Rams continued to take advantage of the charity line with Jackson and Heath each hitting two to get within 52-47 with 12:54 to play. A converted "and one" opportunity for Cannady pushed the gap to double-digits 64-53 at the 11:18 mark. The Lakers maintained the nine-point edge when Pratapas missed a three, McIntosh ran down the rebound and gave Pratapas a second chance which he made count drilling the triple for the 69-60 lead. However, West Chester closed the half on an 11-2 charge thanks to nine of the points coming from the foul line to force overtime 71-71.
McIntire got the first bucket of the extra session, but Toro put together a three-point play at the other end to move the hosts ahead 74-73. Heath with two more on the line pushed the edge to 76-73, but Cannady quickly cut the score to 76-75 with 1:54 left. A 7-2 run started by a triple for Colin Daly left the Lakers down 83-77. Mercyhurst did not go quietly though as McIntosh hit a transition three to make it 83-80 and after two foul misses by Antoine Lewis, McIntire had a last chance for the tie but his shot went long ending the game.
The game for the Golden Rams was won at the foul line as they went 37-51 to the Lakers 12-24. Mercyhurst was better from beyond the arc shooting 8-23 to West Chester 2-21. The bench continues to be strong for the Lakers outscoring the Rams 36-13.
Bradley and Cannady each had 13, while McIntosh (12) and Gross (11) completed the double-digit scorers for the Lakers. Ufele was the leading rebounder with eight.
Heath had a tremendous afternoon with 28 points and 20 boards. Toro also finished with a double-double as he put up 19 points and 11 boards. Jackson added 18 and Daly chipped in 11 points.
Mercyhurst returns to action on Saturday, December 14th at 3pm when they host Le Moyne College in non-conference action.
