INDIANA, Pa.—The Mercyhurst mens basketball team defeated IUP 75-65 on Sunday night to advance to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16.
Coming into the game, IUP led the season 2-1 over the Lakers. Both teams won on the road in the regular season and met again in the PSAC Championship where IUP would prevail 56-49.
The Lakers had three scorers in double figures with
Patrick Smith leading the way with 20 points on the night. Smith also led Mercyhurst (25-7) with eight boards on the night.
Jason Massey was right behind Smith with 19 points and seven boards himself.
MiyKah McIntosh was the other Laker scoring double digits with 12.
In the first half, the Lakers would jump out early on Indiana (Pa.) (30-3), going on a 12-0 run to put MU up 15-4 with 13:23 left in the half. During this run, the Lakers kept IUP off the board for over eight minutes. Then, later in the first, with 3:20 left
Patrick Smith would extend the Lakers lead to 13 giving MU its largest lead of the game. Smith would then knock down a free throw extending it to 14 before the end of the half. Crimson Hawk's Chucky Humphries would hit a three as time expires to cut the Laker lead to only nine.
In the second half, Massey would not allow IUP to cut the lead to less than eight scoring six of eight consecutive points for the Lakers with
Derrick Ellis Jr. scoring the other two. Armoni Foster would hit a three pointer at the 12:48 mark of the second. Smith would respond with a three of his own pushing the MU lead back up to 12. Just over the halfway point of second,
Trystan Pratapas would hit a clutch baseline jumper to push the Laker lead to 15 (49-34).
With under eight minutes to go in the game, IUP would go on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to single digits (9) before Ellis Jr. Free throws pushed it back up to double digits make the score 57-45 Lakers with 6:06 to go in the game. Unfortunately for IUP, they would not be able to trim the Laker lead as Mercyhurst would not slow down the scoring and would seal the win 75-65.
This is the first time in school history that the Lakers will go to the NCAA Sweet 16.
Next Up: The Lakers will face West Liberty in the NCAA Atlantic Region Finals on Tuesday at 7:00 PM. The winner will advance to the Elite Eight.
