Erie, Pa.—Following an 83-77 win against West seed No. 3 Pitt-Johnstown Wednesday, the No. 22/24 Mercyhurst Men's Basketball team heads to Indiana (Pa.) this weekend for the final rounds of the PSAC Tournament. On Saturday, they will take on East seed No. 1 Millersville at 1 p.m. in the semifinal round.
The Matchup
The Lakers and Marauders have met just nine times dating back to their first meeting in 1994, and Mercyhurst has won six of their contests in that span. The last time they met on Nov. 23, 2019, the Lakers came out ahead 87-85. This will be the first time the two teams meet this season, as they did not appear on their crossover schedule earlier in the season.
Laker Overview
MiyKah McIntosh dropped 21 points on the Mountain Cats Wednesday, boosting his average to 19 points since the start of February. Jeff Planutis has put up 19 points in each of the last two games as the Lakers wrapped up their regular season and began PSAC Tournament play. The Lakers have now won seven of their last eight dating back to Feb. 2.
PSAC Tournament Recap
Mercyhurst and IUP earned first-round byes in the West, while Millersville and East Stroudsburg earned the byes in the East. UPJ took down Gannon in the first round to earn a matchup with the Lakers on Wednesday in the quarterfinal round. Millersville punched their ticket to Indiana with a win over West Chester Wednesday. The other semifinal game Saturday will see the Crimson Hawks take on East No. 3 seed Shippensburg.
Scouting Millersville
The Marauders finished with an identical record to the Lakers in the regular season, which was good enough to clinch the top seed in the PSAC East. They have now won 15 of their last 16 games after their 70-54 win against West Chester Wednesday. The Golden Rams went into halftime ahead 29-27, but Millersville held their opponents to 25 points in the second half while breaking out for 43 themselves to take the win. Justin Nwosu led Millersville with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
Millersville's Head Coach Casey Stitzel was named the PSAC East Coach of the Year, and Caden Najdawi was named the East's Defensive Athlete of the Year, highlighting four Marauders named to All-PSAC East teams.
