EDINBORO, Pa. – A depleted Edinboro men's basketball team was able to stay in the game for a half against Mercyhurst on Wednesday night, but the lack of numbers, plus a hot-shooting Lakers' squad in the second half, ultimately spelled a 79-59 defeat. Edinboro saw its two-game winning streak snapped as the Fighting Scots are now 6-12 overall and 4-10 in the PSAC West. Mercyhurst, the defending PSAC champion, improved to 8-10 and 6-8 in league play.

In recent weeks head coach Pat Cleary has seen three players go down with injuries, including a pair of starters. Despite suiting up just eight players the last two games, the Fighting Scots were able to post wins at Clarion and Slippery Rock.
But the loss of second-leading scorer and leading rebounder Mikael Anderson, with his 14.4 points and 6.0 rebounds, were too much to overcome. Edinboro had just seven players available for the game.

Jaymon Mason turned in his usual excellent game with his third straight 30-point effort, but Maceo Baston was the only other Fighting Scot to score in double figures. Mason, who came in as the leading scorer in the PSAC at 23.3 ppg., finished the night with 32 points, making 13-of-25 field goals, including 3-of-6 3-pointers, and going 3-for-5 at the line. He played all 40 minutes for the seventh straight game.

The redshirt junior guard now has eight 30-point games this season, and 12 for his career. His father, Tyrone Mason, holds the school record for 30-point games in a season with 11. Mason jumped up three spots into 11^th place in career scoring with 1,362 points.

Mason singlehandedly had the Fighting Scots out to an early lead, as he scored the team's first 11 points in an 11-6 getaway. Edinboro would take its biggest lead of the night at 13-6 on a Jon Girvin layup with 14:23 remaining in the half, but a 12-3 run gave the Lakers a lead they would never relinquish at 18-16 with 9:35 remaining.
 

The Fighting Scots continued to battle the rest of the half, and Baston's layup cut the halftime deficit to 34-30 at the half.
Mercyhurst opened the second half on a 12-4 run to go up by 12 points at 46-34. The Lakers made five of six shots in that stretch.

Five straight Edinboro points shaved the lead to seven at 46-39 with just over 14 minutes to play, Mason hit a short jumper and Girvin scored on a 3-point play.

Unfortunately, the Scots couldn't slow down the Lakers in the second half, as they shot 60.7 percent over the final 20 minutes, making 17-of-28 shots. Still facing just a nine-point deficit with just over ten minutes remaining, Edinboro saw Mercyhurst put together an 11-2 run to open up an 18-point lead at 65-47.

Edinboro shot 41.7 percent for the game (29-of-56), while the Lakers rallied from a 42.9 percent halftime figure to end at 51.6 percent (29-of-56). The Scots also got to the line 13 times and made six, while Mercyhurst was 14-of-17 at the charity stripe. Mercyhurst held a 37-28 advantage on the glass, and the Scots committed an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers, compared to 14 for the Lakers.

Baston made his first career start and scored a season-high 13 points, making 6-of-12 field goals and 1-of-2 free throws. Girvin contributed nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.

The Mercyhurst trio of Lorenzo Collier (30 points), Dajuan Dent (22), and Durrell McDonald (16) combined for 68 of the team's 79 points. They also made 26-of-39 field goals.

Edinboro will begin the second half of PSAC West action on Saturday, January 28 at California(Pa.). The contest tips off at 5 p.m.