Edinboro, Pa. – Jack Gallagher's 3-pointer in a tie game with 1:05 remaining was the difference as the Edinboro men's basketball team topped visiting Mercyhurst 66-62 Wednesday night inside McComb Fieldhouse.
 
Edinboro led by 12, 60-48, after a pair of Bernie Blunt free throws with 6:52 to play. The Lakers went on a 12-2 run with Aidan Reicher tying the game 62-62 with a pir of free throws at the 1:35 mark. After using the entire shot clock, Gallagher pulled the trigger from long range and connected on the triple giving the Scots a 65-62 lead. Edinboro got a stop at the other end and Gallagher pulled down the defensive board. After he was fouled, Gallagher split a pair of free throws setting the final.
 
The Scots held a 37-31 lead at the half and quickly extended that lead in the second with a pair of and-one plays from Blunt and Ryan Ladjevich to push the lead to 43-31 at the 17:56 mark. Mercyhurst cut into the lead with a 9-2 spurt of their own after Jeff Planutis scored an old-fashioned 3-point play with 13:37 left to make it 45-40.
 
Blunt answered with a trey, and sparked an 11-2 run with Easton Fulmer also connecting on a pair of 3-pointers. Planutis scored the next four points for Mercyhurst part of a 6-2 spurt setting up trimming the lead to 58-48.
 
The Scots came out of the gate fast building an 11-4 lead in the first half. Mercyhurst answered with an 11-4 run of their own to level the score at 15-15 with 11:33 remaining in the first. Blunt would give the Scots the lead back with a jumper in the paint, but field goals from Reichert and Desan Doucet gave the Lakers their first lead of the night 19-17. The teams went back-and-forth with Mercyhurst holding a 25-23 lead with 6:09 left. Edinboro scored the next nine points with six coming from Gallagher to pull ahead 32-25 with 4:51 on the clock.
 
Mercyhurst cut the lead to 32-29 with four straight points, but a triple from Fulmer and a Ladjevich layup pushed the lead back to 37-29 with 1:48 remaining. Sean Fullerton connected on a jumper for the Lakers to cut the halftime lead to 37-31.
 
Gallagher paced the Edinboro offense with 18 points to go with six rebounds, a block and a steal. Blunt tallied 17 points, five boards and two steals. Fulmer scored 12 points shooting 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.
 
Planutis led the Lakers with 19 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Luke Triggs kicked in 12 points and seven boards.
 
The Scots return to action on Saturday when they play host to IUP at 3 p.m. inside McComb Fieldhouse.