The Shippensburg University men's basketball team were stifled by Mercyhurst in a PSAC crossover matchup Sunday at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center, 84-55.
Shippensburg (4-5, 2-1 PSAC) was held to a season low 55 points, despite a 23-point night from senior
Carlos Carter. Carter, who was coming off back-to-back 30-point performances and is averaging 28.7 points in his last three outings, also tallied seven rebounds and three assists.
Mercyhurst (6-1, 2-1 PSAC) held its fourth straight opponent to below 60 points, holding the Raiders to 33.3 percent shooting from the field and forcing 19 turnovers. Offensively, the Lakers converted 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) from beyond the arc to run away with the victory.
Redshirt senior
Rashon Johnson provided an early highlight, slamming home two off a nice find from graduate
Luke Nedrow for the Raiders' first basket. But the Raider offense stalled shortly after against the Lakers' swarming defense.
The visitors were stuck on six points for over seven minutes as Mercyhurst built up an early double-digit lead.
Sophomore
Satchel Ball shot the Raiders back in it, converting back-to-back triples to cut the margin to 12, 24-12, with 8:19 left in the opening half.
Carter got going with nine quick points, and redshirt-sophomore
Ty Crespo drained a floater to temporarily cut the Laker advantage to eight, 31-23.
Mercyhurst stretched the lead back to 12 at halftime, 42-30.
Shippensburg managed to get back to within eight several times early in the second half. Nedrow splashed a three to make it a 48-40 contest with 15:49 left, but the hosts responded with triples from Nicholas Lang, Michael Bradley and MiyKah McIntosh as part of a 13-0 second half run to put the game out of reach.
Aiden Reichert spurred a 34-to-11 bench scoring advantage for Mercyhurst. The forward came off the bench to score a team-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting and grabbed 9 rebounds.
Bradley (16 points, 7 assists), Lang (13 points., 5 assists) and Jeff Planutis (13 points, 5 assists) were also key for the Lakers offensively.
Carter was the only Raider to reach double-figures Sunday. Graduate
Dom Sleva finished just shy of a double-double, totaling 8 points and 11 rebounds. Johnson and Ball finished with six.
Up next, the Raiders play at Gannon in a quick turnaround Monday. Tip-off from Gannon's Highmark Events Center is slated for 7:30 p.m.
