IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Immaculata men's basketball team opened up their 2018-19 season on Thursday night at Alumnae Hall against Delaware Valley, but they struggled to get going offensively and were unable to climb out of a first half deficit in a 75-66 loss.
 
Sophomore Brandon McCullough led the Macs with 17 points in the opener.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
-IU took two early two point leads on jumpers by junior Jordan Ambrose and McCullough, but with the game tied at 6-6, Del Val ripped off nine straight points to take a 15-6 lead.
-Junior Kristopher Bobo hit a jumper to stop the run, but Del Val ran their lead up to 12 at 20-8 with less than nine minutes to go before half
-The Macs cut the deficit to six points at 27-21 and 29-23, both on buckets by freshman John McArthur, but Del Val wouldn't allow them to get closer as their lead sat at 33-23 at the break
-The lead for the Aggies grew to 14 at 37-23 after the break, but the Macs battled back with a 17-7 run and whittled the lead down to 44-40.  McCullough started heating up and Ambrose scored five straight to put the deficit at four points with 11:37 to go
-That's the closest IU would get as an 18-3 run put it out of reach with 6:20 go in the season opening defeat
 
TEAM COMPARISON
-Del Val shot 42% (29-for-69) from the field and the Macs struggled shooting 27-of-76 (35.5%)
-The Aggies were 3-of-11 (27.3%) from beyond and the Macs knocked down 6-of-21 (28.6%) attempts
-The turnover battle was close with IU giving it up 14 times and the Aggies 13 times
-The Macs were 6-of-10 from the line and the Aggies were 14-of-23
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
-Points: McCullough 17, Ambrose 13, Kitchen 12
-Rebounds: Piekarski 8, McCullough 6, McArthur 6
-Assists: McCullough 3, Piekarski 2, Ambrose 2, Lord 2
-Steals: Kitchen 3
 
UP NEXT
The Mighty Macs will travel to a weekend tournament at Hood College starting tomorrow with a matchup against Randolph Macon