ERIE, Pa. - Mercyhurst men's basketball lone senior
Trystan Pratapas allowed the Lakers to retain possession of the Porreco Pride of Erie with his right-corner three with 1.2 seconds left to edge Mercyhurst over crosstown rival Gannon University by a 58-55 final in round one of this rivalry on Saturday night at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
After a converted layup and foul shot by Gannon's Matt Johnson knotted the score at 55-55 with 21 seconds remaining in the game. DeAnte Cisero committed a foul at the 11-second mark as the Golden Knights had one to give. After the ensuing Mercyhurst timeout guard
MiyKah McIntosh took the inbound and waited the clock out before driving into the paint and kicking to Pratapas in the corner who delivered the clutch shot. A last ditch effort from Chris Clancy at half-court came up short allowing the Lakers to hold on for the win.
It was Gannon who got out to the fast start as they took a 6-2 lead 2:32 into the game on a pull-up by Ciscero.
Cameron Gross scored the next seven Lakers points to close the gap by one to 12-9 at the five minute mark. A 5-3 push for the home side thanks to a triple for McIntosh and jumper by
Nicholas Lang made it 15-14 visitors. The Golden Knights responded in a big a way using a 9-0 charge capped by two at the line from Victor Olawoye to open the advantage to double-digits 24-14 at the 15:18 mark. Mercyhurst closed the half on a 10-2 run finished off by a buzzer-beating three from Gross who scored the last five home points to leave the Lakers down just 26-24 at half.
Gannon began the second half the same way as the first with a quick 5-0 push thanks to Michael Tertsea and Chris Clancy to extend the margin to 31-24 not even two minutes in. Triples from
Steve Cannady and McIntosh coupled by four points from
Michael Bradley finished off a 12-0 Lakers stampede to actually take a five-point lead 36-31 at the five minute mark. A floater out of the hands of McIntosh upped the lead to 40-33, before Frank Webb Jr. and Cisero went on a 6-0 push to cut the deficit to 40-39 with 11:20 remaining. The Golden Knights continued to push back into the game and tied it twice thanks to a three from Clancy and a pull-up by Cisero. Then, with the score at 44-44 Mercyhurst looked to gain control as Gross hit a two and Cannady finished off an "and one" opportunity to move the lead to 49-44 still with seven minutes left. A layup by Kevin Dodds once again had the score deadlocked 49-49, before McIntire would flush home a dunk and Gross along with McIntosh hit on jumpers to make it 55-52 under a minute to go. After Johnson converted his old-fashioned three-point play it was Pratapas who sent the large crowd home happy with the 58-55 final.
Mercyhurst shot just 39.7% from the floor, while Gannon was at 52%. The Golden Knights also shot 58.3% beyond the arc to the Lakers 29.2%. The home side was a perfect 5-5 on the charity stripe, while Gannon was a solid 8-10. Mercyhurst held a 24-16 edge on points in the paint and a 20-12 advantage in bench scoring.
Gross led the Lakers with 16 points and was joined in double-figures off the bench by McIntosh with a dozen. McIntire added eight, followed by Bradley, Pratapas, and Cannady all with six. Pratapas was also named Player of the Game for his game-winning shot. Lang pace the hosts with five boards.
Johnson was the leader for Gannon with 16, while Cisero had 14. Cisero also had a team-high six rebounds.
Mercyhurst returns to action on Wednesday, January 22 when they host Slippery Rock University in PSAC West action at 7:30 pm.
