Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst men's basketball heads into the middle of February looking to add two more notches to their win column and find themselves above .500. The Lakers come off a historic win in an double overtime thriller with IUP last week and hope to use the momentum from that victory going into Wednesday's contest with Edinboro and their Saturday matchup with Seton Hill.

Number 500

In the team's last game, Head Coach Gary Manchel reached the 500 win mark for his career, helping him further cement his legacy as one of the best within DII history. Manchel has coached his way to a record 500-340 over the course of his time on the sidelines, seeing 370 of those come for the Lakers while having three PSAC West Coach of the Year honors to his line and helping the Lakers to seven appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Coach's 500 is just another accolade in a long line within his storied career.

Bringing Home Hardware

Jeff Planutis was a large reason for the Lakers win over IUP last week as he finished with 35 points to go along with 15 rebounds. He finished with a game-high 13 made field goals with two of those coming from deep, hitting all seven of his free throws as well. The 35 points by Planutis were the second-most in a single game in his career and the 15 boards are a new career-high, helping him to a game he won't soon forget and one that helped him be named the PSAC West Athlete of the Week.

Scouting the Scots

Edinboro has found it tough sledding so far this season, owning a 6-17 record to this point in the year while going 5-12 in the PSAC. They have dropped each of their last two games with an 82-75 outcome in their last contest against UPJ on the 10th of February. The team's top scorer has been Bernie Blunt who averages 19.9 points per game on a 33.8/27.1/92.1 shooting split, coming in at fourth in the conference in scoring. He'll look to repeat his success from his last game against the Lakers when he finished with 26 points, going 6-14 from the field with five of those makes coming from longe range.

Scouting Seton Hill

The Griffins come into their matchup with Mercyhurst 13-10 on the year, just below the Lakers in the PSAC West standings. They have found it tough sledding here of late, losing three of their last four games with a win over Clarion in their last contest to snap a three-game login skid. They'll look to get some revenge on the Lakers after Mercyhurst snuck away with a 68-66,  buzzer-beater victory in their first contests of the year in the middle of January. Ryan Meis promises to be the focal point on defense for Mercyhurst with the senior averaging a team-high in points with 14.2, shooting 42.9% from the field, 39.2% from three, and 85.4% from the charity stripe.

Next Game

Mercyhurst plays two games next week with them seeing Gannon at home on February 21st at 7:30 p.m. before going on the road for a contest with Cal (Pa.) on Saturday with tip-off set for 3:00 p.m.