GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Arcadia University men's basketball team picked up its fifth win of the season Sunday with a thrilling 108-97 win over Misericordia. Senior
Ryan Kelley has a career day leading on scorers with 33 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including 4 of 5 from three-point land; he converted 13 of 14 free throw attempts.
Josh Scott recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 11 assists.
There was no shortage of scoring from the start as Scott buried a three on the Knights' first possession, however back-to-back threes from the Cougars handed the visitors an early advantage. Just over four minutes in, Kelley gave Arcadia a lead they would hold onto until the early goings of the second half with a layup to make the score 11-10;
Evan Slone and
Kyle Reilly helped expand the lead to five over the next minute. A Scott layup with 13:02 left in the half openeted a 23-14 lead for the Knights before the visitors pieced together a 10-0 spurt over the next two minutes and change led by DJ Marlow to pull within two at 23-21 with 10:27 to go.
Phil Pierfy put a stop to the run with a layup before Jason Kenny knocked down a three to pull Misericordia within one with 9:50 left until the break.
Kelley helped spark an 11-2 run where he scored a pair of threes before capping the spurt with a fast break lay-in to open the Knights biggest lead of the half at 36-26 with just under seven minutes left in the frame. The senior again helped the Knights bounce back from a quick run by the Cougars with a pair of free throws and a three pointer the pushed the scoreboard to 41-33 in favor of the hosts. Misericordia pulled within six as the half came to a close, however Scott would have the last say with a jumper with 20 ticks to go to send the game to a 49-41 halftime in favor of Arcadia.
Kelley scored 21 points in the opening stanza on 7 of 9 shooting, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and a perfect 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. Slone and Pierfy each added eight points on 3 of 5, and 4 of 5 shooting, respectively. The Knights shot 51.4% from the field in the half. Kenny led the Cougars with 14 first half points on 5 of 6 shooting, including 3 of 4 from distance.
Slowly chipping away at their deficit, the Cougars claimed a brief one point lead just shy of three minutes into the half before Pierfy put the Knights back up for good 30 seconds later.
Tom Feraco sparked a 7-0 run for the Scarlet and Grey over a 44 second span starting with a conversion from beyond the arc and a successful trip to the free throw line before a Pierfy layup opened a 12 point lead with 11:13 remaining.
The action was back-and-forth the rest of the way as neither team could put together a run of more than six straight points. It was the Cougars to accomplish the lone 6-0 run with back-to-back threes from Griffin Sponaugle and Tyler McGarry to pull the score to 85-82 in favor of the Knights with 6:12 left in the game. The Knights scored the next five points off a pair of Scott free throws and a Kelley three pointer. Kelley put the Knights but a game-high 13 with 1:19 to go after a pair of free throws; he then converted a pair with 46 seconds to go to wrap up the scoring.
The Scarlet and Grey shot 63% (17-27) in the second half, including 4 of 5 from three. Slone led all scorers in the frame with 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting.
The advantageous Knights outscored the Cougars 28-9 off turnovers in the game, while converting 27 of 35 free throw attempts. Arcadia shot 56.3% over the course of the game as all five starters reached double-figures. Slone finished with a season-best 23, while Pierfy deposited 16 and Reilly added 13.
The Knights open MAC Commonwealth play on Wednesday when they host Lebanon Valley at 8 p.m.
