Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst men's basketball returned to action Monday evening with a loss to West Chester, 68-63. The Lakers fought hard against their counterparts throughout but a late run for the Golden Rams proved to be the nail in the coffin in five point loss.
How it Happened
West Chester came out of the gates as the aggressors with them able to build up a leading the opening several minutes, holding a 14-7 lead for their largest of the opening half of play. It was their work in close that helped them get the job done with four of their first six makes being layups as their size proved to be problem for Mercyhurst.
The Lakers did not stay down for long, though, working their way back and eventually taking a lead at the 9:39 mark of the first canto, holding a 16-14 advantage after a made three-point shot from Sean Fullerton that ended up being his third in a row. Fullerton came out of the gates howt for the Lakers, doing most of the damage in the opening 10 minutes of play hitting four threes for 12 of the team's first 16 points.
From there, WCU managed to work their way back to take a lead, mounting a six-point advantage on two occasions during the remainder of the opening frame. Mercyuhurst responded once again, going on a 5-0 run at the very end of the stanza as Aidan Reichert made a pair of free throws while a triple from Dasan Doucet at the buzzer made it a 31-30 game at the break.
It was a back-and-forth affair through most of the second half with 10 lead changes and four ties in the first 12 minutes of the canto. Four points by Reichert to open the second helped give the Lakers a spark, and the lead, while it was the strong shooting from deep from Max Jusianiec at the midway point that helped keep the Lakers in things. The native of Alfred, N.Y. made back-to-back triples at 10:52 and 10:09 with the second making it a 47-44 game, showing Mercyhurst would not go away quietly.
The Golden Rams began to find their rhythm with jus tour eight minutes to go in the game, going on an 11-0 run to make it a 62-51 game in their favor with Mercyhurst able to score once again at the 2:06 mark of the game. The Lakers tired to mount the full comeback, but could only cut their counterparts lead to to five in the 68-63 decision.
Highlights
Sean Fullerton set a new career high in scoring with his 22 points for the most by any player on either side, going 7-11 from the floor while hitting five three-point shots for the most ever by the sophomore guard. His efforts went beyond his scoring as he finished with four assists to lead the team while adding a pair of blocks and two steals to his line. He was one of three players to have tow steals with both Aidan Reichert and Jeff Planutis joining him while Reichert added 12 points and five rebounds to his line with Planutis having 10 points to round out the double-digit efforts for the Lakers.
Next Game
Mercyhurst does not have to wait around all too long to get back out on the court with the team set to host another PSAC matchup tomorrow with Millersville coming to town with the Lakers and Marauder scheduled to meet at 3:00 p.m.
