WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The fourth-seeded Mercyhurst men's basketball saw their undefeated season and NCAA Tournament run come to an end on Sunday night with a 67-48 setback to the top-seed in the Atlantic Regional Hillsdale College at the Academic, Sports and Recreation Complex on the campus of West Liberty University. With the loss the Lakers ended a memorable season matching the best start in program history at 11-0, holding the top scoring margin in the nation as well as a top-three scoring defense.
Hillsdale picked up the first points of the night with an "old-fashioned" three-point play by Tavon Brown. It took the Lakers three minutes before they got on the board thanks to a running floater for
Michael Bradley to cut it down to 5-2. Mercyhurst continued to struggle from the field going 1-5 in the opening 4:58 allowing the Chargers to surge ahead 10-2 at the first media timeout. Patrick Cartier continued his strong start to the game picking up points nine and ten with a layup to extend the margin to 14-4. Two freebies from
Zach McIntire gave the Lakers a spark as
Steve Cannady dropped one beyond the arc and
MiyKah McIntosh finished off an "and one" opportunity to cut it down to 14-12 at the under 12 media. Bradley's driving layup capped a 10-0 run to tie things up and a triple by
Nicholas Lang gave Hurst their first lead of the night, 17-16 with 9:08 left in the half. Over the next five minutes Hillsdale embarked on a 16-5 push taking a 32-22 lead at the 16:25 mark. Mercyhurst held a 4-3 edge the rest of the period but went to the locker room down 35-26.
Austen Yarian and Ogele each split a pair on the line to begin the second period, before McIntosh buried a long-range shot from the left wing trimming the margin to 36-30 with two minutes gone. A trey by Connor Hill and two at the stripe for Davis Larson got the Hillsdale advantage back to double-figures 41-30 with 4:12 gone. Mercyhurst was unable to cut into the deficit as two at the line by
Cameron Gross was immediately answered with four straight for Cartier leaving the score at 47-33 still with 11:36 remaining prompting a Lakers timeout. A baseline pullup by Jack Gohlke added to the Chargers cushion, but Gross attempted to flip momentum with two more from the line making it 49-35 at the halfway point. Cartier, Hill and Larson netted six straight points stretching the gap to 57-35 with 4:40 remaining. McIntosh halted the run for a second as he hit twice from the charity stripe.
Jeff Planutis saw his first action of the regional and immediately got on the scoresheet with an off-balanced layup recording the Lakers first make from the field since 1:20 mark of the half.
Owen Chambers,
Jared Fagan,
Trey Hoepner and
Junior Oscar saw time at the end of the game as the Lakers outscored the Chargers 11-7 the rest of the way, but it was not enough as Hillsdale saw out the rest of the game for the 67-48 final. Mercyhurst shot just 4-23 from the field in the half, including 2-9 beyond the arc.
Team Stat Pack
Field Goal % - Hurst, 29.8% (14-47) / Hillsdale, 42% (21-50)
Three Point % - Hurst, 21.1% (4-19) / Hillsdale, 31.6% (6-19)
Foul Shooting % - Hurst, 80% (16-20) / Hillsdale, 71.4% (10-14)
Rebounds - Hurst, 26 / Hillsdale, 32
Turnovers - Hurst, 14 / Hillsdale, 19
Points in Paint - Hurst, 12 / Hillsdale, 24
Bench Points - Hurst, 25 / Hillsdale, 5
Mercyhurst Individual Stats
Points – Cannady (9), Lang and McIntosh (8), Bradley (6)
Rebounds – Moreaux (8), McIntire and Ogele (4)
Assists – Bradley (3), Lang (2)
Hillsdale Individual Stats
Points – Cartier (29), Hill (12), Larson (10)
Rebounds – Brown (8)
On Deck
The Lakers will now turn their attention to what hopes to be a normal 2021-22 season with Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play back in full swing.
