Box Score

HACKETTSTOWN, N.J.- Locked in a five-way tie for second place in the Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC), the Immaculata men's basketball team (10-11, 8-6 CSAC) looked to break away from the pack of teams with a win, but in a close back-and-forth contest, they fell on the road at Centenary (10-10, 7-6 CSAC), 65-61. In the second half alone, neither team led by more than four points, and there were nine lead changes and five ties in the final 20 minutes.

Senior Mamadou Diakite scored a team-high 16 points on 12-of-16 shooting from the free throw line and pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. The 12 made free throws by Diakite are a career-high. Sophomore Mike Griffin tied a career-high with 12 points off the bench, and fellow sophomore Matt Simon added 10 points.

The Mighty Macs struggled from the floor as they made 26.8% (15-for-56) of their attempts and had just five made threes on 22 attempts (22.7%). The Mighty Macs were very productive from the free throw line as they knocked down 26 of 34 (76.5%) attempts, and they took care of the ball with just 10 turnovers on the day.

IU's defense was stout most of the day as they held Centenary to 38.8% (19-for-49) shooting from the field.

In the first half, Centenary raced out to a 14-6 lead just over seven minutes into the game, but Immaculata ripped off an 18-2 run over the next five minutes to take their biggest lead of the game.

Diakite scored four straight points to start the run before junior Ron Melton (6 points, 7 rebounds) hit a jumper. Griffin then drilled a three-pointer to put Immaculata in front, 15-14. Sophomore Roy Ferrell Jr. hit a jumper, before Melton and junior Tony Calamaro made it 15 straight points for the Mighty Macs and a 21-14 lead. Following two Centenary free throws, Simon knocked down a triple to put Immaculata up 24-16 with 7:40 to go before halftime.

Centenary would trim down the lead and Immaculata took a 34-33 advantage into the locker room.

In the opening 10:32 of the second half, the lead changed hands eight different times. Just past the midway point of the second half, Griffin's two free throws gave Immaculata a 48-46 advantage. Immaculata had the lead up to three points at 53-50 and 55-52 before the Cyclones took the lead for good.

At the 4:41 mark Centenary drilled a three-pointer to tie the game at 55-55, the sixth tie of the game, before a pair of free throws put the Cyclones up, 57-55. Diakite hit a free throw to trim the lead back to one, but a Centenary bucket made it a three-point game at 59-56. A Ferrell Jr. free throw cut it to a two point game, but two more Centenary free throws swelled the advantage to 61-57 with 1:36 to go.

Two Melton free throws cut the lead in half with 1:18 to go and Centenary converted just one of two free throws on the other end to make it 62-59 with 1:08 to go. With the ball and a chance to tie, the Mighty Macs looked to get a quick score, but a turnover by Melton ended the Mighty Macs chances as they fell, 65-61.

With the loss, the Mighty Macs are now a game and a half behind first-place Cabrini. Immaculata is one-half game ahead of the Cyclones now for the final playoff spot with four games remaining.

The Mighty Macs will look to snap this two-game skid on Wednesday when they host Keystone at 8 p.m. as part of Play4Kay night at Alumnae Hall.

NOTES: Diakite's 12 made free throws are tied for second most in school history in a single game ... Diakite is now 8^th in school history in career points with 596 as he passed Jayson Hyman (2006-08), Kendall Peters (2009-13), and Sean Fordham (2005-09) ... He has moved into sixth on the all-time free throws made list with 159, passing Dan Lepone (2005-08) ... Simon has now attempted the fourth most three-pointers in Immaculata history with 215.