GREENSBURG, Pa. - The Mercyhurst men's basketball team broke open a tight 28-24 game at half by outscoring the host Seton Hill Griffins 40-15 over the final 20 minutes to cruise comfortably to a 68-39 win at the McKenna Center on Wednesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division play. With the win the Lakers clinched a spot in the upcoming PSAC Tournament.
Nathan Davis gave the home side the early 2-0 lead, before
Cameron Gross,
MiyKah McIntosh, and
Michael Bradley led a 7-0 run to grab a 7-2 edge 3:16 in. Tommy Sekunda slowed the charge for a moment with a pull up jumper, however,
Zach McIntire and
Joel Ufele each hit a basket in the paint to but the advantage up to 11-4 with six minutes gone. Davis picked up four Griffins points during an 11-3 sprint to take the one-point lead 15-14. Marrek Paola, Anthony Karabatsos, and Sekunda each hit a bucket in the run as well. Mercyhurst answered back with a 6-0 push thanks to two each at the line by Gross and Ufele along with a jumper from
Nicholas Lang to go in front 20-15 at the 16:04 mark. Davis drilled a three to spark a 5-2 flight to bring the margin to just two 22-20 with 2:25 remaining. The Lakers outpaced the Griffins 6-4 over the final ten points with baskets coming from Bradley, McIntosh, and Lang to hold a 28-24 advantage through 20-minutes.
Over the opening 3:35 of the second half the Lakers looked to put some separation between themselves and the hosts as Bradley delivered a three and McIntire and Lang each hit a layup to push the lead over double-figures to 36-24. Seton Hill finally on the board with just over four minutes gone when Samuel Tabe hit a tough jumper. McIntosh embarked on a solo 5-0 run to extend the lead to 41-26 with 14:22 remaining. With Mercyhurst ahead 43-28, Seton Hill looked to get back into the game as a deep three from Kealen Coats kicked off a 9-0 run to trim the deficit to 43-37 with under nine minutes to go. McIntosh netted five points of a Lakers 9-0 response finished by a Gross to recapture a decent-sized lead 52-37 at the 13:46 mark. The charge continued as Bradley hit a driving layup and knocked home the ensuing free throw after getting hacked by Tabe extending the largest lead of the game 55-37. The Mercyhurst rampage finally came to a halt when Paola finished a driving layup, but Bradley, Gross, and McIntosh answered back with another 7-0 run to extend the advantage to 64-39 under two minutes remaining.
Junior Oscar finished off the game by causing a steal and putting in a layup at the other end for the 68-39 final.
Mercyhurst shot an even 50% from the floor, 41.7% outside the arc, and 75% on the foul line. Seton Hill went 32.7% in the field, 25% from distance, and 28.6% at the charity line. The Lakers held a 38-30 edge in rebounds and a 34-18 advantage on paint points.
McIntosh led the Lakers with 22 points who was 8-15 from the field and 4-6 outside the arc. Bradley joined him in double-digits with 19. Lang and Gross combined for 15. Ufele, Gross, and McIntire each had eight boards.
Davis paced the Griffins netting 13 points. Paola was their leading rebounder with eight.
Mercyhurst is back in action on Saturday at 3pm when they host Clarion University at the MAC.
