Clarion, Pa. - Mercyhurst made the trip to see the Golden Eagles Wednesday with the Lakers coming away with the win. It was a tough-fought defensive contest in the second half with the two teams combining for 50 points over the final 20 minutes in the 54-50 win.

How it Happened

The first few minutes of the contests were close as the score stood at 8-8 with 14:21 to go in the first half. For the Lakers, it was their work from deep that helped them keep pace with their counterpart in the early going with two of their first three made buckets coming from deep as both Jeff Planutis and Sean Fullerton nailing a three. After the Golden Eagles managed to tie things up 8-8, the ended up going on a 7-0 run to help them start to take control. That run was started by Jeremy Thomas II with him scoring six straight points, helping up the perimeter for a made three at the 11:49 mark of the first to give Clarion their largest lead of the half, 15-8.

The Lakers battled back and showed they would not go away quietly in enemy territory as they ended up going on a. 7-0 run of their own thanks to a Christian Gamble triple and a pair of layups from Luke Triggs. It was the three-point shot that helped Mercyhurst keep up their their opponent as they ended up hitting six in total in the first 20 minutes with three of them coming in the final 10 minutes. It was their work from the free throw line, though, that gave them a lead at the halftime break as Aidan Reichert nailed a pair from the stripe in the final minutes to make it a 28-26 score at the half.

Mercyhurst managed to come out of the halftime break as the aggressors, going on an 8-2 run before the Golden Eagles called a time out with 16:17 to go in the game. Clarion proved to be careless with the ball to start the second half and the Lakers capitalized on that, helping them grab a 36-28 lead for their largest lead of the game. Clarion did not give in, though, and slowly but surely worked it back to a two-point game 36-34 with just under 14 minutes to go.

 The defense on both ends picked up from there on out as points were hard to come by over the next several minutes. Clarion looked like there going to take over the lead at one point after a made three made it 41-40, but the Lakers looked in on that side and kept their counterpart scoreless over the next four minutes. After another made Golden Eagle triple ended the drought, the score stood 45-43 in favor of Mercyhurst with 6:32 to go. That made basket, however, did not spark a run for Clarion with Mercyhurst's defense continuing to stifle. 

Coming out of the final media timeout, the two teams traded threes to make it 52-48 before an offensive drought following as the two teams hit only one field goal in the final three minutes. The Golden Eagles managed to hit that shot in the waning seconds, but it was not enough in the 54-50 final.

Highlights

Jeff Planutis led the way in scoring for the Lakers with 11 points on the night, hitting a pair of three while adding five rebounds to his line. He was followed by Aidan Reichert who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Alexander Parks followed him in boards with six to go along with a team-high five assists and four steals, making his presence known everywhere.

Next Game

The Lakers finish out their regular season schedule on Saturday, March 2nd, when they host Slippery Rock with the first round of the PSAC Tournament to follow on the 4th.