ERIE, Pa. -
Michael Bradley,
Cameron Gross, and
Zach McIntire accounted for 58 points as the Mercyhurst men's basketball team knocked off the visiting Kutztown University Golden Bears by a score of 86-64 on Saturday afternoon inside the Mercyhurst Athletic Center in PSAC East/West Crossover play.
The Lakers got off to a strong start as Bradley and McIntire hit on jumpers and got a triple out of the hands of Gross to lead 7-2, 2:11 into the game. Kutztown responded strong with Tarojae Brake accounting for eight consecutive points along with another three by Wesley Butler to put together an 11-2 run to lead 13-9 with 15:28 remaining. Layups from
Andrew Seager, Gross, and McIntire were enough to push the home side back in front 18-15. A basket by Josh Townsend cut the margin to 18-17, but then the Lakers went to work with Steve Canady, Gross, and Bradley leading a 9-1 home charge to earn themselves a 26-19 advantage at the 12:36 mark. Facundo Arens tried to bring the Golden Bears back into the game with a pull-up jumper, however, that only sparked Mercyhurst more as Bradley came down and stuck a three, followed by a bucket from Seager to lead by a dozen 35-23. After another Brake triple the Lakers went on the attack with
Joel Ufele, McIntire, and Bradley accounting for an 8-5 run to lead 43-28 at the break. The half was punctuated by an ally-oop to Ufele from Bradley and a tough turnaround jumper for McIntire.
Kutztown began the second 20-minutes trying to claw back into the game with Ryan Bernstein, Butler, and Brake starting things off with a 6-1 run to close within 44-34 not even two minutes in. Three-pointers on back-to-back Lakers possessions by McIntire and Gross pushed the edge out to 50-36. The Golden Bears answered back with four straight to make it 50-40, however, a triple by
Trystan Pratapas and five points for Bradley helped the lead get back to 58-42 just shy of the halfway mark. Both sides exchanged buckets over the ensuing three minutes which did not help the visitors as they still trailed 65-49 when Cannady laid one up and in. A Butler layup made it 65-51, before the Lakers did work with Seager, Cannady, and Bradley organizing a 7-0 romp to extend the lead over 20 at 72-51. From the point on the Bears never got closer than 20 as a driving layup by
Junior Oscar capped off the 86-64 victory.
Mercyhurst was brilliant from the floor shooting just under 60% from the field, 53.5 outside the arc, and 76.9% on the line. Kutztown was 43.9% in the field, 33.3% from distance, and 72.7 on the charity stripe. The Lakers held a 23-13 edge in bench scoring, and a 44-30 advantage in points in the paint.
Bradley had a game-high and career-high 25 points. Gross added 19, while McIntire also hit double-digits with 14. Seager and Cannady chipped in 9 and 8 respectively. Bradley, Gross, and McIntire all had five boards each.
Brake (18), Butler (15), and Bernstein (10) were all in double-figures for KU.
The Lakers return to action on Wednesday, January 15 when they head to Pitt-Johnstown at 7:30pm.
