Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
STRETCH RUN
Immaculata’s late surge carries Macs to hard-earned 83-73 win against Marywood
EAST WHITELAND >> A fierce conference battle became a game of runs. Lots of runs.
But down the stretch, the Immaculata men had one more surge and it carried the Mighty Macs to a hard-earned 83-73 men’s basketball triumph over visiting Marywood on Wednesday at Alumnae Hall.
“We have to get every last one of these games down the homestretch so we are going to fight,” said Immaculata junior Keith Farmer.
“The last time we played (Marywood), they kept fighting so we knew coming in that we had to keep battling.”
The win brings Immaculata one step closer to a season-long goal: to nail down a third or fourth seed for the upcoming Atlantic East Conference Tournament. The Macs (6-5, 11-13 overall) entered the day in a third place tie in the seven-team league.
“The last home playoff game for our program was in 2008 and I played in that game,” said eighthyear head coach Jayson Hyman. “I would love to top our season off with a home playoff game. It means a lot to me and it would mean a lot to our students and alums. It shows progression.”
With Immaculata seemingly in control, up by 11 with less than three minutes on the clock, the Pacers (3-9, 10-15) scored seven of the next eight points to make it 75-70 with 1:34 to go.
But in the final 94 seconds, the Macs staged an 8-3 burst to close it out. Sophomore John Flood buried two from the line, junior bigman Tyler Tillery’s steal led to a fastbreak bucket by Farmer, Tillery added two more free throws, and then Dez Murphy (Avon Grove) knocked down two more from the line.
“It’s all about who wants it more?” Farmer said. “Coach (Hyman) said all week that we have to have these games because we want a home playoff game.
“He says that if we all come to
gether as a team, it is going to work out at the end, and that’s exactly what is happening.”
With Farmer and Tillery leading the way, the Macs shot .563 in the first half and took a 42-34 lead into the break. Marywood never led in the game, but did pull to within six, at 58-52, before IU reeled off six in a row on buckets from backups Murphy, Tim Schultice and Steven Dao.
And when the Pacers sliced the margin to 66-62 with four minutes to go, the Macs responded with another push, this time an 8-1 surge that included a couple fast break buckets by Farmer.
“We only have one senior in Dez Murphy and the process is getting them to play better basketball,” Hyman explained. “We are getting there. I would love for us to figure it out this week and on into next week. We’ve been up and down but I’m hopeful.
“We played better, we had less turnovers (nine), but defensively I’m not too thrilled. But we defended when we needed to most.”
Farmer finished with a game-high 27 points and five assists, and Tillery added 16 points and eight boards.
“Our maturity showed tonight, especially with Farmer and Tillery, but we just have to get the other guys to come along,” Hyman said.
“We have a big team compared to others in our league and we need to start playing like it. We are trying to put them in a position to play to their strengths, and offensively they stayed true to what we wanted to do. Tyler is a force around the block, and Keith anywhere inside 15 feet is going to be tough to guard and in transition.”
Through December, IU was 3-11. Now the squad is safely in the six-team conference playoff with a good shot at the first postseason home game in 15 years.
“We had a lot of turbulence in the beginning of the season, we bit off more than we can chew in the non-conference schedule, and our starting point guard (Dylan Crews) has been out all season,” Hyman said. “So to be where we are right now says something about these guys.” Immaculata 83, Marywood 73 MARYWOOD — Holman 4-8 0-0 8; Johnson 6-10 2-5 16; Reed 1-4 3-4 6; Mendygral 4-9 1-1 10; Franko 3-9 0-2 6; Seitz 2-6 3-5 9; Perkins 2-4 0-0 5; Vigil 4-9 1-2 10; Van Brunt 0-1 0-0 0; Quinn 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 27-61 10-19 73. IMMACULATA — Farmer 10-16 6-9 27; Tillery 7-9 2-2 16; Proctor 3-8 0-0 6; Flood 2-3 2-5 6; Vlassopoulos 1-4 1-2 4; Dao 1-5 1-2 3; Murphy 2-2 3-4 8; Perez 3-6 0-0 6; Schultice 2-4 1-4 7. Totals 31-57 16-28 83. Halftime: Immaculata 42-34. Three-pointers: Johnson 2, Reed, Mendygral, Seitz 2, Perkins, Vigil, Quinn, Farmer, Vlassopoulos, Murphy, Schultice 2.