IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Immaculata men's basketball team (2-8) raced out to a first half lead over visiting Moravian (5-2) on Wednesday night at Alumnae Hall, but the Greyhounds battled back to send the game to overtime, and the Macs had the last chance down a point in the extra session, however sophomore Asa Kitchen's runner was just long and the Macs fell, 76-75.
 
The Macs were paced by two 20-point efforts as senior Jordan Ambrose scored 22 and sophomore Brandon McCullough had 21, while senior Morgan Bailey had a great night with 10 points and eight boards.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Mighty Macs were outstanding to start the game, scoring the first seven points on buckets by freshman David Cade and five straight from senior Mike Piekarski
-Moravian eventually whittled the lead down to one at 12-11, but the Mighty Macs then went on a tear with a 21-3 run to take a commanding 19-point lead.  In that stretch, the Greyhounds went seven minute without scoring a point as the IU defense was stout early on
-The teams exchanged three pointers to put the Macs in front 19-14, and IU then scored the next 14 points.  It started with three consecutive three's from junior Andre Allen, McCullough, and Ambrose.  Kitchen then hit a jumper before three more from Ambrose to put IU in front 33-14 with five minutes left
-Moravian then balanced it back out by scored 15 of the next 19 to make it 37-29 IU at the break
-IU continued to lead in the early part of the period before the Greyounds took their first lead and ran the advantage up to six points at 51-45 with 11:45 to go
-The Macs battled back with six straight from Bailey, Kitchen and Piekarski to tie it up at 51-51
-The Macs re-took the lead with six to go with a jumper by Ambrose before Bailey and McCullough extended it to five at 61-56 with five remaining
-The lead stood at four, 65-61, with 3:19 remaining, but the Macs would go scoreless the rest of the way and Moravian converted a pair of field goals to tie it 65-65
-The Greyhounds took the early lead in overtime, but Ambrose tied it on a pair of free throws and then Ambrose hit a jumper with 2:06 remaining to put the Macs in front 72-70
-Moravian responded with a three pointer, and they scored three more on free throws on the next possession to put them up by four
-McCullough then knocked down a three with 51 seconds to go, and after getting a defensive stop, the Macs had one more chance trailing by a point, but Kitchen's last second attempt hit off the heel and the Macs fell by one.
 
TEAM COMPARISON
-The Macs were good from the field at 30-for-6 (45.5%) while holding the Greyhounds to 27-for-68 (39.7%)
-IU's three point defense was great, allowing just nine makes in 37 attempts (24.3%) for the Greyhounds, while knocking down 8-of-12 themselves
-The Macs were 7-of-11 from the line and the Greyhounds were 13-for-15
-Moravian had a slight edge in rebounds, 40-39, and the Macs turned it over 13 times to 12 for Moravian
-IU led for 31 minutes in this contest, but the Greyounds seized control in overtime
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
-Points: Ambrose 22, McCullough 21, Bailey 10, Piekarski 9
-Assists: Kitchen 4, McCullough 3
-Rebounds: Ambrose 9, Bailey 8, Piekarski 8
-Steals: Piekarski 3, Kitchen 2
 
UP NEXT
The Mighty Macs will travel to Dickinson on Saturday, December 15^th in their next game.