ERIE, Pa. – Top-ranked IUP men's basketball suffered its first setback of the season with a 62-49 loss to 24th-ranked Mercyhurst on Monday night.
IUP (22-1, 16-1) shot just 29.1% from the floor against one of the top defensive teams in the country. The Hawks were held to just two assists on 16 made field goals on a tough night offensively.
The loss snapped a staggering 33-game regular season winning streak for the Hawks, which earned the second longest single-season winning streak in the program's illustrious history at 22 games.
Shawndale Jones posted a team-high 16 points, while
Tomiwa Sulaiman just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Ethan Porterfield gutted out five points and eight rebounds in 32 minutes. Mercyhurst (17-4, 13-3) shot nearly 50% from the field in the second half, using a decisive 20-4 run in the second half to pull away, limiting the Hawks down the stretch.
Jeff Planutis poured in a game-high 22 points with Nicholas Lang adding 13 in Mercyhurst's fourth consecutive win. Pip Ajayi grabbed 14 rebounds in 28 minutes for the veteran Lakers. Neither side shot above 35% from the floor in an evenly-played first half with a high level of defensive intensity. Lang and MiyKah McIntosh collected their 100th career victories in a Mercyhurst uniform on Wednesday.
Mercyhurst, idle since last Wednesday, had five days to prepare for Monday's matchup with the Hawks. IUP settled in from a slow start, led by a team-high eight points from Jones in the opening half. IUP's cold spell continued into the second half, marking the first time the team has not reached the 50-point plateau since 2013 at Mercyhurst.
With the game tied at 37, the Lakers posted 15 of the next 17 points during a decisive stretch with just four minutes left in the contest.
Mercyhurst took an early 6-3 lead at the first media timeout of the evening. Both sides went through a scoreless stretch with hard-nosed defense across the board. Sulaiman, the league's Defensive Player of the Week, showcased his offensive ability with a game-tying triple at 12:56.
Jones rattled home a three for the team's first advantage of the night at 13-10.
Jaylen Stewart bookended an 8-0 stretch for the Hawks with a triple of his own for a 16-10 advantage, holding the Lakers scoreless for about four minutes.
IUP maintained the narrow advantage after their slow start, as the Lakers sliced the deficit to one with a transition basket at 16-15. The Lakers leveled the score at 20 with a triple before taking a slim two-point lead into the intermission at 25-23.
The defensive struggle continued into the second half, tied at 37 around the midway mark of the frame. Morris pushed the Hawks ahead by five with a trey as neither team could gain much separation. The Lakers countered with a timely 18-2 surge that spanned over six minutes, pushing the hosts ahead 48-37 with momentum at the 6:25 mark.
IUP was scoreless for nearly five minutes as Mercyhurst broadened the lead to double digits. Despite quality looks, IUP struggled to convert offensively. Morris drilled a triple to pull IUP back to within a 10-point margin at 52-42 heading into the game's final media timeout.
The Lakers slowed the pace down the stretch, maintaining its double figure margin the rest of the way.
Up Next
IUP faces a short turnaround, hosting Pitt-Johnstown on Wednesday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Follow
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