Indiana, Pa. - Mercyhurst Men's Basketball advances past the first round of the NCAA National Tournament Saturday afternoon once again. The Lakers found themselves in a battle with East Stroudsburg with Mercyhurst able to outlast their counterpart 72-66.

How it Happened

First Half

The first four and a half minutes of action proved to be a defensive battle with the score holding at 7-6 with the Lakers in front by one. Jeff Planutis got off to a good start for Mercyhurst with him draining the first triple of the game.

He followed that up with a layup to have five of the team's first seven points. Coach Manchel's squad swarmed East Stroudsburg in the early going as they had three turnovers going into the first media timeout as the Lakers showcased the defense that had been shown all year.

The offense picked up a little bit after the media timeout with Nicholas Lang scoring four straight points for Mercyhurst. His third and fourth came off a drive to the rim to put the Lakers in double-digits, 11-8.

The remainder of the opening half was back and forth as neither team was able to gain control. Through the final 13 minutes of the first canto, there were a total of four lead changes to go along with five ties while the lead for neither team grew to more than five. After a tough-fought first 20 minutes, Mercyhurst found themselves down 35-32. 

Second Half

Mercyhurst came out of the break as the hotter team as they went on a 6-2 run to begin the second half, taking a 38-37 lead with just under three minutes expired from the clock. Pipeloluwa Ajayi found Lang for the easy two as Merychurst had found their offense while the team's defense caused five ESU turnovers in the first six minutes.

The hot start did not dissipate with the Lakers able to crack 50 first. They shot 50% from the floor through the first eight minutes of the second half with three different players scoring five or more points. Mercyhurst held their counterparts to just 25% from the field over that span, taking a 51-45 lead into the under-12 timeout. East Stroudsburg did not give in, though, cutting the lead to just two with 10 minutes to go in the game. 

Mercyhurst responded with a run of their own as they saw their lead climb towards double-digits. Ajayi's presence on both sides of the ball proved to continue to be big for the Lakers as he was able to get a foul while converting the layup to put coach Manchel's crew in the lead, 58-49.

The Warriors cut the lead to just one with three minutes to go as this one proved to be close in the closing minutes. A pair of made threes from Michael Bradley ended up giving Mercyhurst some cushion down the stretch as the second made it a 66-61 score with just under two minutes to go before taking home the six-point win.

Highlights

Mercyhurst had three players finish in double-digits in points with Bradley and Nicholas Lang finishing with 16 points each while Aidan Reichert scored 12 with all of them coming in the first half. Bradley proved big on defense as well with four steals to tie for the team lead alongside MiyKah McIntosh. The offense proved to pick up in the final 20 minutes of action as Mercyhurst shot 13-23 (56.5%) from the field while shooting only 40.7% in the first half.

Next Game

The Lakers await their next foe as they play either No. 2 West Liberty or No. 7 UPJ. Mercyhurst gets back out on the court tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. in the second round inside the Kovalchick Athletic Center on the campus of IUP, hoping to make it to the round of 16.