Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst Men's Basketball grabs their 10th win of the season Wednesday afternoon in the win over the Rams. The Lakers showed themselves to be the better team in the second half, outscoring their opponents 46-23 to be able to take home the 70-45 win.
How it Happened
The Lakers started off a bit slow as their counterpart scored the first five points of the game. From there, Mercyhurst got it going with them going on a 10-3 run to take their first lead of the game. That solid stretch of play was propelled by back-to-back triples with Nicholas Lang and Michael Bradley both canning one from deep.
From there, the remainder of the opening half was a close one with neither team able to claim a major advantage. There were eight lead changes and one tie over the final 15 minutes of the first half with the biggest lead being six for the Lakers at the 8:34 mark with the score standing at 22-16 after a made free throw from Lang. The Lakers were able to close out the half on a high note as Bradley canned a two-pointer for the final make of the opening canto to go into the break ahead 24-22.
The second half proved to be a very different story for Mercyhurst with them outscoring the Rams by 23 over the final 20 minutes. The Laker's long-distance shots fell in bunches as they made five straight at one point with the final one coming from Jeff Planutis to put Mercyhurst up 53-32 with 9:17 left in the game.
The team's offense did not slow down from there while their defense stayed stout, evident in the fast break bucket from Pipeloluwa Ajayi after a steal by Lang, giving the Lakers their biggest lead to that point in the game of 24.
From there, Mercyhurst cruised to the win as they claim yet another blowout victory to move to 10-2 on the year.
 By the Numbers
Michael Bradley led the way on offense with a game-high 16 points on 6-9 shooting, going 2-3 from deep. He was helped by MiyKah McIntosh who finished with 11 points while Nicholas Lang had 10 points, five rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Mercyhurst's second-half shooting made a major difference in this one with the team shooting 18-28 (64.3%) from the field and 8-12 (66.7%) from three, helping them score 46 points. They held their opponents to just 45 points which is the fewest the team has allowed so far in the 2022-23 campaign and are the fewest since the 35 they allowed against Bryant & Stratton last season.
What's Next
The Lakers host another game this week with the team set to play Slippery Rock on Saturday, January 14th, at 3:00 p.m. The meeting promises to be a fierce one as the two teams set near the top of the PSAC West standings.
