Box Score

PITTSFORD, N.Y.- The Mighty Macs were locked in a tight one late in the consolation game of the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa Tournament on Friday afternoon at St. John Fisher against Colby Sawyer, and the Mighty Macs (4-6) executed well down the stretch to erase a one-point deficit and turn it into an 86-82 victory to end the 2016 portion of the schedule.
 
The Macs trailed 80-79 with 1:47 to go, but sophomore Mike Piekarski hit jumpers on back-to-back possessions to put IU up 83-80, and freshman Jordan Ambrose got his only points of the day on a traditional three-point play with 17 seconds to go to give IU the four-point lead that they would hang on to.
 
Piekarski had 15 points (6-for-11 FG) and nine boards in a solid overall game, and junior transfer Eric Pittman Jr. led the team with 19 points in just his second game with the team.  Senior Roy Ferrell Jr. had his second double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds as he was 8-for-8 from the free throw line, and junior Will Chapman had 13 points and three assists while knocking down all three of his three point attempts.
 
The Mighty Macs were great at the line at 20-for-23 (87%) and set a new program record with 41 three point attempts while converting 14 of them.
 
For the second straight game, the Macs were slow out of the gates and the Chargers took an 18-6 lead just five minutes in.  The Macs would trim it down to three points just five minutes later on two occasions on a three by Ferrell Jr. and a couple free throws by Pittman Jr. to make it 22-19.
 
A Pittman Jr. three late in the first half again trimmed it to three points at 40-37, but the Chargers held a 45-40 lead at the break.
 
Pittman Jr. tied the game one minute into the second half with five straight points, but Colby Sawyer edged out in front again for most of the early part of the half.  The Macs would tie it on three more occasions before a Piekarski lay-up with 11:18 to go gave IU their first lead since early in the first half at 60-58.
 
The Macs then played with the lead for the next several minutes, swelling their lead up to seven points at 72-65 on a pair of free throws by Ferrell Jr. with 6:55 to go.  However, the Chargers would not go away, taking an 80-79 lead at the 1:47 mark before IU pulled away late.
 
IU will get back into Colonial States Athletic Conference play on January 3^rd at 8 p.m. at Rosemont.