Box Score
IMMACULATA, Pa. – Immaculata University’s men’s basketball team had its home regular-season finale spoiled on Saturday afternoon as visiting Centenary College handed the Mighty Macs an 84-75 loss inside Alumnae Hall.
Immaculata, who has already clinched a spot in the Colonial States Athletic Conference Tournament, falls to 13-10 overall and 11-5 in the league while Centenary improves to 10-13 and 8-8, respectively.
Immaculata was led by Robert Siter’s 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists while John Boyd finished with 21 points, six rebounds and two blocks. The Mighty Macs got eight points, including two three’s, and six rebounds off the bench from Kendall Peters, and Jeff DeSantis and Nelson Torres each added six points and six rebounds apiece.
The Mighty Macs pushed their advantage back to 10 (49-39) on a jumper by Boyd at the 17:49 mark of the second half. Centenary then went on a tear, outscoring Immaculata 16-5 during the next 4:12 giving the Cyclones a 55-54 advantage with 13:36 remaining, their first lead since the 15:12 mark of the opening stanza (10-8). Centenary was 5-for-9 from the field during the spurt, and three of its four missed shots led to points after the Cyclones grabbed the offensive rebound.
Immaculata knotted the score at 56-all with 11:22 left, but Centenary connected on three-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor to establish the Cyclones lead. The Mighty Macs made a run just inside the nine-minute mark as Boyd hit three free throws and Torres put in a lay-up to bring the hosts with three, 66-63, with 7:58 left on the clock.
However, Corey Kearney sunk a three and Ryan Kearney hot both free throws as Centenary extended the margin to eight, 71-63 at the 5:45 mark. Boyd led another attempt by Immaculata to trim the margin as he sunk both ends of his free throws and had a jumper to put the Mighty Macs down by four (71-67) with 5:03 remaining. That was as close as Immaculata came the rest of the way as Centenary took care of business from the charity stripe during the final two minutes, hitting 8 of 11, to hold on for the nine-point victory.
After the game swung back-and-forth during the first six minutes, Immaculata went on an 11-2 run over just 3:05 to get out to a 21-12 lead with 11:11 to play before intermission. The Mighty Macs saw their lead grow to as many as 12 (34-22) with 3:13 before the break, and eventually took a 43-33 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
Centenary had five scorers in double figures led by C. Kearney’s 20 points. Jakub Halicki came off the bench and finished with the Cyclones’ only double-double of the day with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Rob Urie had 16 points, Larry Lenahan 14 and Ludner Innocent added 13.
Immaculata travels to Rosemont on Monday night for an 8 p.m. contest against the Ravens.