IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Immaculata men's basketball team (4-8) won a wild affair on Wednesday night at Alumnae Hall over Alvernia (3-7), 91-88 in double overtime, in a game that featured 13 ties and 18 lead changes and also a new school record for points in a single game by senior Mike Piekarski with 36.  He had 13 made field goals, including six from long range.
 
Piekarski finished with his third double-double of the season as he added 10 rebounds and eight assists and junior Jordan Ambrose also came up big several times with 21 points on 5-for-7 from three point range, his third 20-point effort in the last four games.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The first half was led primarily by Alvernia as the Macs only had it tied at 2-2, and leading 29-25 with 2:29 left, they scored 10 straight to close out the half and led the Macs, 39-25 at the break
-In the second half, Alvernia ran their lead up to 15 points, and it stayed at double digits midway through the second half
-Trailing 56-46 with 10:56 remaining, the Macs went on a critical 12-2 run to tie the game for the first time since the early going at 58-58 with 6:44 remaining.  Senior Morgan Bailey (8 points, 10 rebounds) got the spurt started with a bucket followed by back-to-back three's from Piekarski and Ambrose.  After an Alvernia basket put them up four, the Macs responded with six straight from Piekarski, Bailey, and Lord to take their first lead, 60-58
-With the game tied 62-62, Alvernia converted four straight free throws to take a 66-62 advantage with 1:54 to go, but Piekarski knocked down a three, and a couple possessions later, Ambrose did the same to give the Macs a 68-66 lead with 34 seconds remaining
-Alvernia would tie it on a pair of free throws, and the Macs turned it over on their final possession as the game went into overtime
-In the overtime, the teams traded points on the first six possessions as the game was tied at 70, 72, and 74
-The Macs took a two point lead with 2:13 to go on a pair of free throws by Ambrose, and after Alvernia tied it, Piekarski tied the school record with his 35^th point on a free throw
-The Mighty Macs ran their lead up to two points after a jumper by senior Cordell Lord and a free throw by McCullough, but the Golden Wolves again tied it at 80-80 on free throws and the game went to double overtime after a last second missed bucket by Piekarski
-The game as tied at 93-93 early on, and the Golden Wolves then took an 86-83 lead, but sophomore Asa Kitchen tied it with a triple midway through the second overtime
-Alvernia took a two point lead, 88-86 with 1:26 remaining, but Ambrose buried a three with 55 seconds to put IU back on top, 89-88
-The Macs then got a defensive stop and Ambrose hit two free throws to put the game away for the second straight victory
 
TEAM COMPARISON
-The Mighty Macs were 33-for-79 (41.8%) from the field, including 18-for-33 (54.6%) in the second half and Alvernia was 32-for-64 (50%) for the game and 15-for-24 (62.5%) in the second half
-Alvernia was 6-for-16 (37.5%) from three point range while IU was stout at 12-for-27 (44.4%) from three
-The Macs were 13-for-16 from the line and Alvernia was 18-for-26
-IU held a slight edge in rebounds at 44-40 while both teams turned it over 14 times
-The Macs had a big edge with 24 second chance points as well to just 10 for Alvernia
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
-Points: Piekarski 36, Ambrose 21, McCullough 9
-Rebounds: Piekarski 10, Bailey 10
-Assists: Piekarski 8, McCullough 6
-Blocks: Bailey 4
-Steals: Piekarski 3, Bailey 2
 
UP NEXT
The Mighty Macs will now have two and a half weeks off before hosting Neumann in an Atlantic East Conference game on Saturday, January 5^th.