Shippensburg, Pa. - Mercyhurst Men's Basketball sees their run in the PSAC Tournament continue as they defeat the Raiders in the semis Saturday afternoon. The Lakers used a strong offensive second half to help them take the 71-62 win.
How it Happened
First Half
The first 20 minutes proved to be tightly contested as Shippensburg was able to take a one-point lead into the halftime break. Mercyhurst came out of the gates as the hotter team as they grabbed a lead as large as seven in the opening five minutes. The two points that helped the Lakers gain that lead came courtesy of Pipeloluwa Ajayi who got the steal and then the slam, making it 12-5.
From there, the Raiders had a rebuttal as they fought back to take their first lead of the game with just over seven minutes to go in the opening canto. The Lakers battled to keep things close as Shippensburg's lead never got above three through the remainder of the half. Another dunk from Ajayi down the stretch helped Mercyhurst keep the momentum from slipping away from them and go into the halftime break down 30-29.
Second Half
Mercyhurst started off the second half as hot as they did the first as they went on a 10-5 to begin the stanza. Jeff Planutis scored six of those points for the Lakers as he had started to find his rhythm from the field. The biggest shot, though, came from Aidan Reichert in close to force the Raiders to call a timeout with coach Manchel and company ahead 39-35 with 16:46 to go in the game. The Laker's offense did not slow down from there as they hit back-to-back threes with the second coming courtesy of Planutis to give Mercyhurst their first double-digit lead of the game.
Shippensburg did not give up after trailing by 10 as they managed to tie things up and then subsequently take the lead with just over six minutes to go at 57-56. Mercyhurst managed to grab the lead back thanks to a bucket from Planutis with the Lakers able to hold onto it from there. Clutch baskets by Bradley and Lang in the waning minutes proved to be the push Mercyhurst needed to grab the 71-62 win and move onto the PSAC Championship.
Highlights
Michael Bradley led the team in scoring with 21 points on 9-15 shooting while Jeff Planutis had 16 and Nicholas Lang 15, combining for an 11-16 line from the floor. Pipeloluwa Ajayi proved big as well with 10 points to go along with nine rebounds, two blocks, and a steal as he had his hands all over this one.
Next Game
Mercyhurst gets a third chance to play IUP this season as they and the Crimson Hawks are set to play for the PSAC Championship tomorrow inside Heiges Field House with tip-off set for 3:00 p.m.
