IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Mighty Macs came up with a huge late victory over Neumann (9-6, 0-2) as senior Mike Piekarski hit a three pointer in the closing seconds to lift IU (5-8, 1-1) to a 62-60 win, their first ever in Atlantic East Conference play.  IU held the Knights to three points over the final six minutes of the game.
 
Junior Jordan Ambrose scored a team-high 23 while Piekarski added 15 and McCullough had 12.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Mighty Macs started off very well with a 9-3 advantage behind five points from Ambrose over the first five minutes
-Their lead grew to seven on a three pointer by McCullough and swelled to nine points on Ambrose's second three pointer of the half midway through the period to make it 22-13
-The lead was at 24-17 with 8:34 remaining, but Piekarski hit a pair of buckets and Ambrose knocked down one to put the lead at 13 at 30-17 as IU held the Knights scoreless for a four minute stretch
-IU took a 34-27 advantage into the break
-The Knights came out strong defensively and limited the Macs and eventually tied the game at 40-40 with 12 minutes left in the game
-Neumann took their first lead with 10:58 to go, but the Macs battled back to tie it at 48-48 with 9:40 to go
-The Knights then went on a critical 9-0 run to take a 57-48 lead with six minutes remaining, but the Mighty Macs responded with an 11-0 run.  It started with a jumper by junior Josh Singleton, followed by three straight jumpers from Ambrose to make it 57-56 with three minutes to go as the IU defense was outstanding
-McCullough then hit a huge three pointer off an offensive rebound to put the Macs back in front with just over two minutes left, but Neumann re-took the lead with 42 seconds left on a three pointer
-The Mighty Macs then came out of time out and drew up a play to Piekarski who drilled a three from the left wing with 25 seconds to go to put IU up 62-60
-The Knights would get two more opportunities, but were unable to convert to seal the Mighty Mac victory
 
TEAM COMPARISON
-The Macs were 26-for-58 (44.8%) from the floor and the Knights were 22-for-51 (43.1%), and both teams were effective from three with IU shooting 6-for-14 (42.9%) and Neumann at 9-for-20 (45%)
-Neither team had many trips to the line with Neumann shooting 7-for-10 (70%) and the Macs at 4-for-5 (80%)
-IU had a huge advantage in turnovers with just 10 compared to 17 for Neumann
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
-Points: Ambrose 23, Piekarski 15, McCullough 12
-Rebounds: Piekarski 7, Ambrose 5, Bailey 4
-Assists: McCullough 4, Piekarski 3, Lord 2
-Steals: Lord 3, Piekarski 2
 
UP NEXT
The Mighty Macs will look for their second straight Atlantic East win on Wednesday night against Marymount at 8 p.m.