Indiana, Pa. - Mercyhurst Men's Basketball sees their season continue as they defeated East Stroudsburg in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Atlantic bracket. The team is now 25-5 on the season overall and matches up with West Liberty in the second round tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.
1. Repeating History
Mercyhurst has played West Liberty only one other time in the two team's history with the Lakers collecting a win during the 2018-19 season. That game came in the NCAA Tournament's Atlantic Region Championship with coach Manchel's squad getting the win by a final of 82-70. Mercyhurst had five players score in double figures with Nelson Maxwell and Patrick Smith both finishing with 16 points on a combined 10-17 shooting effort.
2. Looking Back
It was a tough fight for the Lakers in their win over the Warriors that helped them continue their season. Neither team ever found themselves ahead by double-digits with the largest lead being nine by the Lakers a handful of times during the second half. It was ESU's rebounding in the early going that helped them take a 35-32 lead into the halftime break, but Mercyhurst responded. Coach Manchel's crew shot over 50% from the floor in the final 20 minutes to help them take home the 72-66 win.
3. Smothering the Opposition
The Lakers had a turnover margin of 17 against ESU as the Warriors turned the ball over 24 times to Mercyhurst's seven. They have proven to be one of the top teams in the league this year as far as turnovers as the Lakers have coughed up the ball 287 times for the third-fewest while they have forced 453 for turnover ratio of 5.7 for fifth-best in the NCAA DII.
4. Nothing Easy
Mercyhurst allowed only four made threes against East Stroudsburg as the opposition shot only 4-17 from deep. It was the 16th time the team has allowed their opponent to make five or more threes, showing themselves to be tough to beat along the perimeter. The Lakers have allowed teams to hit three or less on threes on five occasions with their fewest coming against Slippery Rock when they shot 1-8 from deep. They'll hope to carry that sort of defensive effort from deep into their matchup with the Hilltoppers, a team that shoots 38.3% from beyond the arc.
5. Scouting the Hilltoppers
West Liberty comes into the game 29-3 after their 112-88 win over UPJ Saturday afternoon. The Hilltoppers finished 20-2 in the MEC, winning the conference championship over Fairmont State in a 112-82 win. West Liberty has proven to have one of the better offenses in the NCAA as they average 101.5 points per game, second in the nation to only Nova Southern's 103.8. The team has five players averaging 10 or more points with Bryce Butler leading the way with 22.5 for 13th best in the country on a 59.3/42.7/66.9 shooting split to go along with 7.8 rebounds per game.
