ERIE, Pa. - The second-seeded Mercyhurst men's basketball team used a strong shooting night to earn their tenth straight win and advance to the PSAC Tournament Semifinals with an 84-66 win over third-seeded University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown on Wednesday night at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
Neither side could take control early as
MiyKah McIntosh,
Zach McIntire and
Nicholas Lang all hit from deep to give the Lakers a 12-8 lead at the 4:31 mark. Fred Mulbah knocked down a jumper to make it 12-10, but four straight from
Michael Bradley upped the advantage to 16-10. Josh Wise and Caiden Landis brought it to 16-15, before
Trystan Pratapas and Bradley hit from deep and
Cameron Gross stuck two at the foul line to open up the lead to 24-19 with 10-minutes to go. Marcin Wiszomirski scored the next six points to get UPJ their first lead since early in the game at 25-24. However, McIntosh and Lang each buried triples and
Steve Cannady hit a foul shot to open up a six-point cushion 33-27 with under five left. Joe Batt hit a three-pointer, but it did not stop the Lakers momentumn as they closed the opening half on a 13-2 run with buckets from Cannady, McIntosh, and McIntire to lead 46-32 at half.
Pitt-Johnstown began the second period strong with Landis netting four points during a 7-2 charge over a 3:15 span to close within 48-39. Bradley would hit from deep, before Batt drilled a pair of triples shrinking the deficit down to 51-45 with 14:53 left. Cannady converted an "old-fashioned" three-point play and Lang delivered a trey to stretch the margin back to a dozen, 57-45 with just about six minutes gone. John Paul Kromka went on a personal 4-2 push at the charity line, but was only able to cut the deficit by two, 59-49. Bradley and Lang responded with a 5-0 push bumping the lead to 64-49 at the 8:20 mark. The Lakers continued to hold the 'Cats at bay as the teams shared the next eight points, before a McIntosh triple capped a 5-1 run to give the home side their largest lead of the game 73-54 with 6:46 left. Wise and Kromka put together a 6-0 push, but a dunk by McIntire and five points from McIntosh made it 82-64 with 97-seconds remaining. Batt and Bradley each hit a jumper to account for the remainder of the scoring for the 84-66 final.
Mercyhurst shot 47.6% from the floor, 41.9% outside the arc, and 73.3% on the foul line. UPJ was 41.7% in the field, 28.6% from beyond and 85.7% at the charity stripe. Both teams recorded 10 second chance points. The Lakers held a 19-9 edge in points off turnovers, while for one of the very rare occassions on the season Mercyhurst was outscored off the bench 19-10.
McIntosh led a group of four Lakers in double-figures with 27 points, followed by McIntire (17), Bradley (16), and Lang (12). Pratapas, Cannady and Gross combined for 12 points and eight boards. McIntire was the leading rebounder for the Lakers grabbing seven, while Lang added five.
UPJ had four in double-digits as well headed up by Kromka with 16, while Landis (14), Wise (13) and Batt (13) joined the group. Kromka completed the double-double with 10 rebounds.
On Deck - PSAC Semifinals
The Lakers will head to the top seed in the East the Shippensburg University Raiders for a 3:30pm tip on Saturday in the second semifinal of the day. The first one between IUP and East Stroudsburg will begin at 1pm.
