Box Score

LA PLUME, Pa.- The Mighty Mac men's basketball team (2-3, 1-0 CSAC) opened up Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) play on Wednesday night on the road at Keystone, and trailing by six points at the break, the Macs outscored the Giants 48-33 in the second half en route to a 76-67 CSAC-opening victory.  IU was paced by senior Roy Ferrell Jr. who poured in a game-high 19 points (6-of-12 FG, 6-of-8 FT) and had a team-high eight rebounds.  Ferrell Jr. now sits at 992 points for his career and needs just eight more points to become the fourth men's basketball player to reach the 1,000 point mark for his career.
 
Sophomore Mike Piekarski scored a season-high 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting and sophomore Morgan Bailey scored a career high 15 points (5-of-6 FG) with six boards off the bench.
 
The Macs were strong from the line as they were 19-for-22 (86.4%) and were 27-for-61 (44.3%) from the field while holding the Giants to 22-of-65 (33.8%) shooting from the field.
 
Trailing 34-28 at the break, the Mighty Macs were in need of a run to get the game under their control, and they did just that as they went on a 29-11 outburst over the opening 11 minutes of the second half.
 
The Giants had the lead at 38-30 less than three minutes into the second half when freshman Josh Singleton (6 points) hit a jumper to spark a 9-1 run to tie the game.  Piekarski drilled a three-pointer, and after a Keystone free throw, Ferrell Jr. converted a lay-up then got a steal and another lay-up to tie the game at 39-39.
 
Keystone would take a brief lead at 41-39, but an 18-4 run by the Macs would give IU their biggest lead of the game.  Ferrell Jr. hit a triple before Bailey scored six consecutive points to put the Macs up by seven at 48-41 with 11:07 remaining.
 
After the Giants cut the IU lead to five, the Macs ripped off seven straight on two free throws by Bailey, three by Ferrell Jr. and a fast break lay-up by freshman Jordan Ambrose (career-high 8 points) put the Macs in front 57-45 with nine minutes remaining.
 
Unfortunately, the Giants had a big run left in them as they ripped off a 12-0 spurt over a three minute span to erase the 12-point IU lead and knot the game at 57-57 with six minutes to go.
 
The score would be tied again at 61-61 with 3:52 remaining when Keystone got their final lead of the contest at 63-61.  Ambrose would bury a jumper to tie the game at 63-63 and Piekarski put the Macs in the lead for good with a lay-up with 2:44 remaining.
 
A Keystone free throw cut the lead to one, but baskets by Ferrell Jr. and Piekarski would keep the Macs in front by three, and another field goal by Piekarski with 56 seconds to go increased the lead to five at 71-66.  From there, IU put the game away at the line by knocking down five of their next six free throws.
 
Keystone led the entire first half aside from two ties.
 
The Macs will look to make it two in a row on Saturday when they host Centenary at 3 p.m. in the back half of an Alumnae Hall doubleheader.