Box Score

SCRANTON, Pa.- The Mighty Mac men's basketball team led for all but 35 seconds of the game until the 6:30 mark of the second half in their Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) game at Marywood (13-7, 8-5 CSAC) on Wednesday night, and after the lead changed hands five times over the ensuing minutes, the Pacers closed out the game on a 15-3 run as they topped the Mighty Macs (10-10, 8-5 CSAC) by a score of 68-58.  The loss drops Immaculata into a five-way tie for second place in the CSAC with Rosemont, Neumann, Marywood, and Gwynedd Mercy with Cabrini alone at the top of the CSAC with a 9-5 record.
 
Senior Mamadou Diakite led the way with his ninth double-double of the season with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 10 rebounds.  Junior guard Rodney Duncan was the only other Mighty Mac in double figures with 12 points while sophomore Matt Simon chipped in with nine points.  Sophomore Mike Griffin pulled down a career-high eight boards off the bench.
 
Coming out of halftime with a 33-30 lead, the Mighty Macs grabbed their largest lead of the game out of the gates with five straight points from Simon to put IU in front 38-30.  Immaculata kept the lead above five for the early part of the second half until Marywood cut it to one point, but Simon again had an answer, this time with an old-fashion and-one that put Immaculata in front, 46-42 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
 
The Pacers then went on a 5-0 spurt that gave them their first lead of the contest at 47-46 with 6:30 to go as the Mighty Macs struggled to find some offense.  They shot just 6-for-20 from the field in the second half.  However, Duncan knocked down a pair of free throws that put IU back on top, 48-47.
 
Marywood came down the next possession and knocked down at three to go up 50-48, but again the Mighty Macs had an answer, this time it was junior Ron Melton (8 points) with an and-one opportunity that he converted to put Immaculata in the lead, 51-50.
 
After Marywood tied it with a free throw, Melton hit a pair of free throws of his own to give the Mighty Macs a 53-51 advantage with 3:11 remaining.  The teams traded lay-ups with Diakite laying one in to again give the Mighty Macs a two-point lead at 55-53 with 2:19 to go.
 
That's when Marywood took over and went on a decisive 15-3 run to close out the game and the victory over the final minutes.  It started with back-to-back three pointers that quickly put Marywood in front, 59-55.  The Pacers would then close the game out at the free throw line, going 7-of-9 at the charity stripe, which didn't allow the Mighty Macs to get back into the game.
 
Immaculata led for nearly the entire first half, except for 35 seconds, when Marywood grabbed a 9-8 lead.  Diakite and Duncan were dominant early as they scored the first 15 points of the game for Immaculata and helped IU to the 33-30 advantage at the break.
 
Immaculata will look to quickly bounce back when they travel to Centenary on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m.
 
NOTES: Diakite now had 15 double-doubles in his career at Immaculata … Diakite also has the sixth most rebounds in a single season with 173 after passing former teammate Barry Brockington (2013-14).