For the second time this week, the D'Youville men's basketball program played a strong first half but couldn't put together a full performance, dropping the first of two non-conference tilts with No. 7 Mercyhurst, 90-56, on Friday evening at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center. 

Junior forward Jaeger Martino got the Saints on the board Friday evening with a layup off a baseline drive. Junior forward Garrian Wade stepped off the bus on fire for D'Youville, connecting on four of his first five attempts from the field. Wade's run included a fastbreak layup and back-to-back threes, the first off an assist from freshman guard Mason Putnam and the second giving the Saints their first lead of the ballgame at 11-10. Mercy immediately countered with a 7-0 run to grab a 17-11 advantage. Later in the half, senior forward Grant Beyer got in on the scoring with a deep three from the left-wing and a long two from the top of the key, falling away from the basket to bring the Saints to within one point of the Lakers at 17-16. A few minutes later, Beyer struck again from downtown and senior guard Brian Sharp joined the three-point parade, connecting from the right-side. The Saints and Lakers traded leads for the remainder of the half. Another deep three from Wade grabbed a 25-24 lead and a steal from Putnam led to another bucket for Sharp, giving the Saints a two-point advantage with less than a minute to play. Turnovers plagued D'Youville all night and none was any bigger than D'Youville's final possession of the half, when Putnam lost control of the ball leading to a Laker three at the buzzer, putting the Saints behind for the rest of the night. 

The nationally-ranked Lakers flexed their muscles to open the final period of play, sprinting out of the locker room on a 21-5 scoring run, inflating their narrow halftime advantage to 19 points just over five-and-a-half minutes into the second half. The Saints had turned the ball over 27 times before the 10:00 mark of the second half. Back-to-back buckets from Beyer and Putnam was about the only offensive rhythm the Saints could muster up in the second half. By that time, the Lakers had already built a 76-49 advantage with 5:51 remaining. With his heels right up against the sideline, freshman forward Ryan D'Ali banked a long three from the left-wing. In his fourth D'Youville appearance, D'Ali's bucket was his first as a Saint. 

Notables – Two Saints posted double-figure scoring efforts: Wade (18 points, 5-8 FG) and Beyer (13 points, 5-8 FG) ... Sophomore forward Noah Denz paced the Saints on the glass, grabbing eight rebounds ... As a team, the Saints shot 52.2 percent (12-23 FG) from the field, including a 75.0 percent (4-6 3PT) clip from beyond the arc in the first half. D'Youville cooled down considerably in the final twenty minutes, shooting 37.5 percent on six-of-16 attempts.  

Four Lakers landed in double figures for scoring: guard Steve Cannady (19 points, 7-11 FG), guard MiyKah McIntosh (15 points, 6-17 FG), guard Michael Bradley (12 points, 5-9 FG), and forward Daniel Ogele (11 points, 2-4 FG)… Ogele nearly posted a double-double, collecting nine rebounds in addition to his scoring total.  

Up Next – The Saints return to the Mercyhurst Athletic Center tomorrow to complete the weekend series with the Lakers at 2 p.m. Tune into tomorrow's non-conference battle on Portal.StretchInternet and follow the action through SIDEARM Live Stats. You can also follow this Sunday's matchup on Twitter (@DYOUVILLEMBB) and Instagram (@dycmbb).