ERIE, Pa. (January 3, 2025) – The Stonehill College men's basketball team dropped its Northeast Conference opener at Mercyhurst, 76-69, at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center Friday night.
 
LEADERS

• Sophomore Todd Brogna (Southborough, Mass.) led Stonehill in scoring with 19 points on a 7 for 13 shooting performance to go with six rebounds.
• Sophomore Louie Semona (Cincinnati, Ohio) led the Skyhawks on the glass with a career-high eight rebounds and 17 points off the bench.
• Freshman Hermann Koffi (Quebec City, Quebec) tallied 12 points and four rebounds while senior Christopher Melis (Chappaqua, N.Y.) led Stonehill with three steals on the defensive end to go with six points and four rebounds.
• Mercyhurst's Jeff Planutis led all scorers with 23 points, while Aidan Reichert had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Lakers.

FIRST HALF

• Mercyhurst sunk its first three shot attempts of the game to take a 7-0 lead, but Melis came off the bench, scoring the next four points.
• Semona tied the score, 9-9, sparking a 14-2 run for the Skyhawks as Stonehill went ahead 20-11 as Koffi led the way with five points during the run.
• A Laker three-pointer halted the run, but a pair of free throws and a layup from Brogna made the score 24-14 with under seven minutes remaining in the half.
• Mercyhurst cut its deficit in half, 25-20, but a Semona three and a fastbreak layup from Brogna pushed the Skyhawk lead back to ten, 30-20.
• The Lakers continued to respond with Jeff Planutis scoring his ninth first-half point on a second-chance finish at the rim, followed by a Mercyhurst layup at the buzzer that made the score 40-32 in favor of the Skyhawks at the break.
• Stonehill outrebounded Mercyhurst 18-13 in the first half and the Skyhawks were led by Brogna with 12 points and Semona with 11.
• The Lakers shot 45.5% (5-11) from deep in the first half and were led by Planutis with nine points.

SECOND HALF

• Brogna opened the second half with a layup, but Mercyhurst erupted for a 10-2 run to make it a one-possession game, 45-42.
• A steal and score for Planutis trimmed the Laker deficit to one, 47-46, but a dunk from Brogna on an inbound pass from under the basket started a quick 4-0 run for Stonehill.
• The two NEC foes traded buckets, and Mercyhurst continued to hang around, tying the score for the first time since the first half, 59-59, with 7:24 to play in the game.
• After a Brogna free throw, the Lakers took their second lead of the game and first since the 14:37 mark of the first half with a spinning layup from Bernie Blunt.
• Planutis threw down a fastbreak dunk after jumping the passing lane to put Mercyhurst ahead, 67-62, with 3:54 remaining on the clock.
• The Lakers led the rest of the way, going 19-21 from the free throw line in the second half en route to a 76-69 win.

NOTEWORTHY

• Stonehill is now 1-1 all-time against Mercyhurst, as this was the first meeting between the two teams since Nov. 20, 2004. Both games have been at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center.
• The starting lineup of Koffi, graduate student Josh Morgan (Brampton, Ontario), junior Chas Stinson (Charlotte, N.C.), Brogna, and junior Ethan Meuser (Shavertown, Pa.) falls to 7-3 on the year.
• Stonehill is now 7-1 when outrebounding its opponents this season, winning the rebounding battle against Mercyhurst, 36-27, on Friday.
• After another double-digit scoring effort, Semona is averaging 16.2ppg over the last seven games, with 10+ in six of those contests. Semona also set a new career-high with eight rebounds.

UP NEXT

• Stonehill continues its Northeast Conference schedule in Loretto, Pa. as the Skyhawks take on Saint Francis on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 2 p.m.

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