Marywood Drops Heartbreaker in Laurel Line Championships
Pierre Bakinde led Marywood with 18 points in a two point loss to Misericordia in the Championship game of the Laurel Line tournament Saturday

Marywood Drops Heartbreaker in Laurel Line Championships

Men's Basketball - 11/19/2011 8:58:00 PM

Box Score

Dallas, PA - Marywood Univeristy built a two point halftime lead but host Misericordia University used a strong start to the second half and two late free throws to hold off the Pacers 62-60 in the Championship game of the 20th annual McCarthy Tire Laurel Line Tournament Saturday evening in Dallas.  The loss drops Marywood to 1-2 on the year while the host Cougars improve to 3-0.  James Lavan and Brent Keyes were both named to the All-Tournament team for Marywood.

Despite the host Cougars hitting 44% of their shots in the opening frame, Marywood managed to build a two-point lead at the break thanks to hot shooting of their own as the Pacers connected on 40% of their shots from the floor (12 of 30).  A back and forth affair throughout much of the first half, Marywood, who lead 1-0 early on, took their first real lead of the game when Matt Lepri hit a three to put the Pacers up 22-21 with 4:48 to go.  Misericordia would soon tie the game on a free throw, and eventually would go up 27-22 after their sixth consecutive point.

The Pacers trimmed into that lead with under two minutes remaining in the opening stanza as Keyes and Lepri converted back-to-back layups to cut the Pacers deficit to one, 27-26.  A traditional three-point play but Pierre Bakinde would give the Pacers a 29-27 lead heading into the locker room.

Misericordia used a 11-1 run over the opening 3:12 of the second half which Marywood was forced to battle back from the remainder of the game.  Down 49-40, Marywood got to within five with a pair of free throws from Shane Kellaher, but a layup from Steve Artzerounian put the hosts back up six, 53-47 with 7:55 to go.

A three-pointer by Lavan made it 53-50 but the Cougars' Jeff Slanovec answered with a jumper to keep the Pacers at bay.  After a scoreless stretch of almost two minutes, Bakinde cut the Pacers' deficit to two with a layup at 4:32.  From there, the Cougars would only score four more points the rest of the way, but unfortunately for Marywood they could only find the bottom of the net once. 

Marywood tied the game at 60-60 with 1:05 remaining before Justin Grotevant sank two free throws with :36 remaining to seal the win.  A last second jumper by Keyes to tie the game missed.

Bakinde led the Pacers with a game-high 18 points while Keyes added 13 and Lavan had 10.  Misericordia placed four players in double figures led by 15 apiece from Slanovec and Chris Undersinger.

Marywood returns to action Tuesday when they open Colonial States Athletic Conference action with a road game at Immaculata University. The two teams are set to tip-off at 7:00 pm.
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