INDIANA, Pa.—The Mercyhurst men's basketball will move onto the second round as they beat Fairmont State in an overtime thriller on Saturday night.
 
Jason Massey led the team with 30 points and recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds.  Patrick Smith also recorded a double-double with 14 points and 18 rebounds.

For Fairmont State, Vonte Montgomery led the team with 22 points and 13 rebounds.
 
In the first half, with 14:25 to go in the first, Massey would extend the Laker lead 10-4 before the Fairmont State (22-9) came charging back on an 8-2 to eventually take the lead after a Cole Vonhandorf three pointer.  The Falcons would extend the run (13-2) before an Edvaldo Ferreira basket would cut the deficit to 19-14 with 9:50 to go in the half. Mercyhurst (24-7), would answer the FSU run with one of their own (8-0) to regain the lead after a Massey jumper, 24-23. FSU would then take a 29-26 lead before a Maxwell three pointer to tie the game.  A made free throw by Derrick Ellis Jr. would give MU the lead at the half up 30-29.

In the second, MU would extend its lead to seven (38-31) just over the 15 minute mark of the second half before Fairmont State would go on another run to eventually tie the game up at 40 off of an Andrew Emrick layup.  Emrick would then make the next basket for FSU as well giving them a 44-42 lead with just 8:15 to go in the game. Going down the stretch, both teams would exchange the lead eight different times.  Ellis Jr. would head to the stripe with 20 seconds left making one of two free throws to tie the game.  FSU would have one last opportunity to win the game but Ellis Jr. would steal the ball from Jason Jolly just before time expired to send the game into OT.

In overtime, Fairmont State would open with a Jolly three pointer followed by a Montgomery tip-in to give the Falcons a 58-53 lead forcing Mercyhurst to take a timeout. Off the timeout, MU would go on a 5-0 run tying the game off a Massey layup.  FSU would take the lead momentarily until the Massey would knock down two free throws to tie the game with 1:06 left in OT. Neither team would score until under 10 seconds in the game when Patrick Smith would burry a three pointer to make the biggest shot of the game.  With four seconds left, Jolly would get one last shot for FSU but it would be too highly contested and miss allowing the Lakers to run away with the win. 
Lakers outshot FSU from the field 42.1 percent to 36.4.  Mercyhurst also outrebounded Fairmont State 54-42.  The Falcons would score 24 bench points compared to the Lakers six.
 
Next Up: The Lakers will face IUP for the fourth time this year in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday at 7:30 PM