Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst Men's Basketball concluded the second leg of their back-to-back games with Alliance coming to town Thursday evening and the Lakers getting the win. In the end, coach Manchel's club used strong defense early on and solid offense in the second half to pull away and get the 82-56 win.
How it Happened
The Lakers didn't waste much time jumping out in front as they scored the first five points of the game with them all coming courtesy of MiyKah McIntosh. From there, the rest of Mercyhurst's squad got involved to help grow out the team's lead. Back-to-back buckets from Michael Bradley and Aidan Reichert made it a 19-9 game with just under 12 minutes to go in the first half. Bradley made a jumper before grabbing the steal and dishing to Reichert for a quick four points.
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After that, Mercyhurst used some solid three-point shooting down the stretch of the first half to build their advantage, hitting a trio of treys in the final nine minutes. The first came from Christian Gamble while McIntosh and Bradley followed. Bradley's was the final to go in, coming with 1:11 showing on the game clock to make it a 34-21 game before the score held at 34-22 at the break.
Mercyhurst's three-point shooting only got better as the game went along with them going 7-13 (58.5%) from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes. The first came courtesy of McIntosh while Nicholas Lang hit one just five minutes into the second half to help the Lakers break 40 points for the game as Mercyhurst was now up 42-28.
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The Lakers continued to look to get the ball in close despite their solid outside shooting as after Lang's three, the next six makes came from in the paint. The final two were a pair of breakaway layups for Lang and Bradley with the four-point swing making it a 54-36 game at the midway point of the second period.
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From there on out, it continued to be all Mercyhurst as their lead ballooned past 20 points at the nine-minute mark and never came back down with the Lakers improving to 5-1 on the season in the 82-56 win.
By the Numbers
Mercyhurst's defense held strong as they held their opponent to 60 points or less for the third straight game. Their ability to hinder the other team's shooters has been a focal point for the Lakers as the opposition is shooting just 27.4% from deep and Alliance's performance was no different. The Warriors went 2-7 from beyond the arc for the fewest made threes allowed by Mercyhurst since Seton Hill in February of 2022 when the Griffins made only two.Â
MiyKah McIntosh and Michael Bradley led the team in points with 16 apiece while combining for five steals and 14 assists with Bradley leading the way with eight dimes. McIntosh's night proved to be big in several ways. His 16 points were his season-high while helping the native of Pickering, Ont. become the fifth leading scorer in Mercyhurst history, now with 1,411 points to his name.
What's Next
The Lakers take a couple of days off before resuming play. They'll play two games at the beginning of next week as they dive back into PSAC play with Shippensburg on Sunday, December 18th, and Lock Haven the following day. Mercyhurst plays host in both of those contests with tip-off set for 3:00 p.m. on both days.
