ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst men's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a 86-44 route of the visiting Clarion Golden Eagles on Saturday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division play.
The Lakers came flying out of the gate as triples from
Michael Bradley,
MiyKah McIntosh, and
Nicholas Lang coupled with free throws by
Zach McIntires put them ahead 13-2 with 6:29 gone in half one. Clarion picked up seven of the following eleven points with buckets by Elijah Cottrill, James Price and Sheriff Conteh trimming the margin to 17-9. However, a pair of triples by
Trystan Pratapas and a layup from
Joel Ufele capped an 8-2 run to bump the lead out to 25-11. Mercyhurst finished the opening 20-minutes on a 14-6 charge over a seven-minute span with half the points coming Lang with other contributions thanks to McIntosh, McIntire, and Ufele to lead 39-17 at the break.
Mercyhurst took five of the opening nine points of the second half on a layup by
Cameron Gross and a three for Bradley to lead 44-21 with 17:35. The Lakers continued to charge forward using an 8-2 push on buckets by McIntire, Gross, and McIntosh to stretch the margin to almost 30 at 52-23. They would eventually eclipse that mark about 30-seconds later when Lang delivered a triple to make it 55-25 with 11:57 to play. The threes continued to flow in as
Andrew Seager and McIntire each hit from deep to give the hosts their largest lead of the game to that point 61-27. Foul shots from Pratapas and McIntire sparked a 7-3 run to extend the cushion to 68-30 at the under eight media timeout. Mercyhurst would continue to keep their foot on the gas outscoring the visitors 18-14 the rest of the way for the comfortable 86-44 victory.
Mercyhurst shot 54.2% from the floor, 55.6% outside the arc, and 77.8% on the foul line. Clarion went just 31.1% in the field, 12.5% from beyond and 77.8% at the stripe. The Lakers held a 33-20 edge in bench scoring.
McIntire led a trio of double-digit scorers with 18, followed by Lang (16) and Pratapas (14). Bradley and Ufele each had eight, while McIntosh and Seager chipped in seven apiece. Gross was the leading rebounder with five.
Cottrill had a team-high 11, while Godspower Ogide and Conteh added eight each. Jordan Agyemang and Stevan Rodriguez both grabbed eight boards.
Mercyhurst returns to action on Wednesday, February 12 when they make the short trip up State Street to battle city rival Gannon University at 7:30 pm.
