IMMACULATA, Pa.- The Immaculata University men's basketball team returned home on Monday night for a final non-conference tune-up against non-conference foe and local power Haverford before kicking off Atlantic East play on Wednesday evening vs Marywood. Despite trailing by as many as 18 in the first half, a stellar second half performance led Immaculata to a thrilling 86-72 comeback victory.
In the opening five minutes of the first half, Haverford held a slim lead throughout, which would eventually become a solid 25-10 advantage with just 10 minutes to play in the first half. In the final 10 minutes of the first half, Immaculata and Haverford traded baskets with Immaculata concluding the half on a 24-19 run to head to the halftime break trailing by just 10 (44-34).
In the first half, Immaculata shot just 29 % from the field, however, the Macs were an impressive 12-of-15 (80.0 %) from the stripe to head to the halftime break trailing by just 10.
Brandon McCullough matched Haverford's Joe Hartman in scoring through the opening 20 minutes as the two each registered 10 points to head to the half as the game's leading scorers.
Coming out of the halftime break, Immaculata opened on a 10-2 run to trim the deficit back to just two points with 18:07 to play, thus, prompting a Haverford timeout. Out of the timeout, a
Tyler Tillery layup evened the score at 46-46 before a three-point play by the Fords restored a slim three-point lead with just under 17:30 to play. Over the course of the next seven minutes, Immaculata continued to shoot well, which allowed the Mighty Macs to claim a 61-55 lead with just under 10 minutes to play.
Haverford responded with a 11-5 run over the next six minutes of action to even the score at 66-66, however, this is as close as the visiting Fords would get as
Jordan Ambrose converted a clutch three-point play to give Immaculata a 69-66 lead it would never relinquish.
Immaculata extended its lead in the closing minutes of regulation with clutch free throw shooting performances throughout the team as the Macs would roll to the 86-72 victory.
Ambrose and McCullough each ended the evening with 25 points to tie for the game-high in scoring while Tillery set a new career-high with 17 points of his own. Tillery also led the way with a team-high 12 rebounds including eight on the defensive glass for his third double-double in as many games.
As a team, Immaculata shot 39.1 % from the field thanks in large part to a 48.5 % shooting performance from the field in the second half. From range, Immaculata shot 37.5 % (9-of-24) including a number of clutch three-pointers throughout the second half to hold off the dangerous Haverford offense. The Macs were also exceptional from the line as the team shot 81.8 % on the evening to help bolster the offense in the victory.
Immaculata also ended the game with a 46-37 edge in rebounding thanks in large part to a +5 (16-11) edge on the offensive glass, which resulted in a 20-5 advantage in second chance points.
For Haverford, Joe Wujciak ended the evening as the team's leading scorer with 13 points as Hartman managed just two points in the second half to end the game with 12 points on the night. Jesse Turkson also added a double-double finishing the game with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
The Macs will continue their three-game home stand on Wednesday evening opposite Marywood with that contest also set to begin at 8 p.m.
