Box Score

IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Immaculata men's basketball team staged a huge second half rally on Wednesday night at Alumnae Hall against visiting Keystone to erase a 14-point second half deficit and send the game to overtime tied at 81-81, but the Giants (8-14, 8-7 CSAC) outscored the Mighty Macs (10-12, 8-7 CSAC) 14-6 in the extra period to defeat IU in a crucial CSAC contest, 95-87.
 
The Mighty Macs were unable to take advantage of sophomore Roy Ferrell Jr.'s outstanding game as he set a new career-high with 32 points, which tied for fourth most in school history on 10-of-19 shooting from the field, including six three pointers, which tied an IU school record for a single game.  He also added seven rebounds.
 
Senior Mamadou Diakite had his 10^th double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while blocking three shots.  Junior Rodney Duncan had a career-high seven assists and eight points, while junior Ron Melton had eight points and a career-high 12 rebounds in the losing effort.
 
After playing a close, back-and-forth first half where Keystone went to the locker room with a 38-37 lead, the Giants stormed out of the break and grew their lead to 14 points at 68-54 with 10:05 remaining, and seemed to be firmly in control, but IU battled back over the remainder of regulation.
 
With Keystone up 71-59 with nine minutes left in the game, the Mighty Macs scored 10 straight points to trim it down to a 71-69 game with 6:25 left.  Diakite and Melton had the first two buckets of the run before Duncan went on a personal 6-0 run to get IU within two points.
 
Immaculata would trim the lead again to one point at 74-73 with 4:35 to go on a lay-up by freshman Joshua Smith (9 points).  However, Keystone would grow their lead to 81-77 with 2:32 to go as the Mighty Macs were unable to jump in front.
 
Both teams came up empty on two straight possessions and the Mighty Macs found themselves down four still with under a minute to go.  Melton then scored on a nice feed from Duncan to cut the lead back to two points at 81-79 with 35 seconds remaining.
 
Following a missed front end of a one-and-one, Ferrell Jr. collected a Duncan missed jumper with six seconds left and got fouled as he went up for the shot.  He calmly drained both free throws and the Immaculata defense held to send the game to overtime tied, 81-81.
 
To open overtime, sophomore Matt Simon hit a jumper to give IU their first lead of the game since the 11:06 mark of the first half, but Keystone then went on a 10-0 run over the next 3:30 to put the game away and the Giants held on for the 95-87 victory.
 
Immaculata is now currently in a four-way tie for fifth place with Marywood, Centenary, and Keystone with just three games remaining in the regular season.  Immaculata will look to snap their three game losing skid on Saturday when they travel to Gwynedd Mercy for a 4 p.m. tip.
 
NOTES: Diakite is now fifth in school history in free throws attempted with 281 … He is also sixth in blocks with 35, passing Todd Stokley (2009-13) … This year's team has now attempted more three-pointers than any other team in school history with 502 so far.