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Box Score
ERIE, Pa. (March 1) – The California University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team had its season conclude with a 54-50 loss at Mercyhurst in the first round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament Saturday afternoon.
The Vulcans, seeded sixth from the PSAC West, had their season end at 11-16 overall, while the third-seeded Lakers improve to 16-11 and will play at second-seeded IUP in the quarterfinals of the league tournament.
Junior
Tynell Fortune (Harlem, N.Y./Pocono Mountain West (Pa.)) led Cal U with 17 points. Fellow junior
Alonzo Murphy (Pittsburgh, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) added eight points and a game-best 11 rebounds, while classmate
Arman Marks (Louisville, Ky./Eastern) chipped in eight points and nine rebounds.
Neither team found any kind of offensive rhythm through the first 15 minutes of the game. The Vulcans opened the game shooting 14 percent (2-of-14) from the field, while Mercyhurst took a 12-9 lead despite shooting just 25 percent (6-of-24). Cal U began to find consistency in the final five minutes of the half, led by a pair of three-pointers by Fortune, to give Cal U a 16-14 lead with 4:01 remaining in the half. The Vulcans made four of their six attempts in the final five minutes to take a 20-19 lead into the break.
Cal U and Mercyhurst traded the lead throughout the opening five minutes of the half until a three-pointer by sophomore
Jake Jacubec (Struthers, Ohio/Struthers) sparked a 13-4 run to give the Vulcans a 40-31 lead with 11:10 remaining in regulation. The Lakers chipped away at the lead with a 7-1 run over the next two minutes to close the game to 41-38 with 9:24 left to play. Fortune extended the lead back to six with a three-pointer on the next possession, but Mercyhurst rallied for a 7-2 run to pull within one point at 46-45 with 5:06 remaining in the contest.
Senior
Chris Williams (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) sank a pair of free-throws to put the Vulcans up by three with just under three minutes remaining, the game's first points in over two minutes. The Lakers followed by tallying off eight-unanswered points to take a 53-48 lead with 22 seconds left in the game. Fortune added a basket with 11 seconds remaining to trim the deficit to 53-50, but the Lakers converted one-of-two at the charity stripe to secure the victory.
Similar to the beginning of the game, the Vulcans struggled to close the game, shooting 16 percent (2-of-12) from the field in the final 10 minutes of the game. Mercyhurst connected on 54 percent (6-of-11) of its attempts during the same span. Cal U shot 29 percent (13-of-45) for the game compared to the 39 percent (21-of-54) posted by the Lakers.
Mercyhurst was led by sophomore Jean Onana, who scored 10 of his game-high 19 points in the final 10 minutes of the game.
