ERIE, Pa.—The Mercyhurst men's basketball team will travel to Pitt-Johnstown on Wednesday in its final road game of the regular season.

Who: Mercyhurst (19-5, 14-5) at Pitt-Johnstown (15-12, 10-10)
When: February 27, 2019 (7:30)
Where: Johnstown, Pa.
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Previous Game

• Mercyhurst men's basketball team wins on the road at Gannon 63-58 to take both of the Porreco Pride of Erie Games this season. The win tonight also gave Coach Manchel his 400th career win.
• Jason Massey led the Lakers with 20 points while Nelson Maxwell was the other Laker who scored in double digits with 13. Patrick Smith led the game in rebounds with seven, respectively.
• MU would maintain this lead until just over the 13 minute mark of the second when the Golden Knights would come charging back. GU would go on a 9-2 run making the score 46-43 Mercyhurst with just over 10 to go in the game. A made jumper by Massey would extend the Laker lead back up to seven before another 9-2 run would allow Gannon to tie the game at 54 with 3:54 to go in the game.
• Down the stretch Maxwell would play a huge part in the Lakers never letting the lead slip to Gannon scoring the last seven of nine points to ice the game giving Mercyhurst the victory 63-58.

 
Laker Facts

• MU is ninth in the conference in points per game averaging 77.2
• On the defensive side, the Lakers have the number one defense in the conference and ranked second in the country only allowing 60.3 points per game
• In other categories in the conference,  Mercyhurst is first in scoring margin (16.9), first in three point field goal percentage (.403), third in three point field goals made (9.1) and third in field goal percentage (.485)

Leading the Lakers

• Massey leads MU in scoring averaging 16.0 per game
• In rebounds, Smith leads the team with 8.4 per game placing him seventh in the PSAC
• From behind the Arc, Trystan Pratapas leads the conference in three point field goal percentage (.536)
• Derrick Ellis Jr. averages 4.3 assists and is ninth in the conference
• After a great performance at Gannon, Ferreira defends the rim on defense averaging 1.5 blocks per game and is fifth in the PSAC

Mountain Cat Facts

• UPJ is coming off a big home win over Slippery Rock 98-84
• The Mountain Cats had four different players in double figures including leading scorer Josh Wise with 30 points on the night
• UPJ has a high-powered offense averaging 82.4 points per game placing them fourth in the conference
• In other categories, they also have the number one field goal percentage (.503), second in blocked shots per game (4.30) and first in assists averaging 18.96
• Pitt-Johnstown clinched the number four seed in the PSAC West and will also host a first round playoff game
• If the season were to end today, the Mountain Cats would host Seton Hill

Leading UPJ

• Wise leads UPJ in points per game and is tenth in the conference scoring 17.1 points per game
• John Paul Kromke is ninth in the PSAC and controls the boards for the Mountain Cats averaging eight per game, Kromke also leads UPJ and the conference in field goal percentage (.630) and in blocked shots averaging 2.6 per game

Previous Meeting

• MU took game one of two games on the season beating UPJ at home 74-69
• The win would give Mercyhurst the lead in the all-time series with a record of 23-22

Playoff Implications

• MU has clinched the number three seed in the PSAC West with their last win over Gannon
• Lakers will host first round of playoffs on March 4th at 7:00 PM
• If the season were to end today, Mercyhurst would be hosting the number sixth seed, which will most likely be Seton Hill
•  The Griffins need a Win against IUP and a Gannon loss to move to fifth and place Gannon as the sixth seed

 
Next Up:  The Lakers will host Edinboro in its final game of the regular season on Saturday March 2nd. We will also be celebrating Senior Night for the men's basketball team.