FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wise Choice – Wise and Katopodis Pace Mounties Past Lock Haven

MANSFIELD – Ralik Wise recorded his first career double-double and Andreas Katopodis scored a game-high 24 points to lead Mansfield to a 90-78 win over Lock Haven in a PSAC East contest Saturday afternoon at First Citizens Community Bank Court in Decker Gymnasium.

"After Wednesday's loss, we needed a win," said head coach Rich Miller. "They were packing it in on Charles (Pemberton) and we needed someone to step up and Ralik (Wise) and Andreas (Katopodis) did just that."

The game was a back-and-forth affairs for much of the first half featuring 11 lead changes and two ties before intermission.

Lock Haven held a 38-37 advantage at halftime and took a 42-39 lead two minutes into the second half before a Katopodis 3-pointer tied the game at 42-42 a minute later.

Mansfield would trail just once after that but the lead was never greater than two possessions until Da'Quan Jones buried a 3-pointer to give the Mountaineers a 66-59 with just over six minutes remaining.

Katopodis scored his last points of the game on a layup with four minutes left to put the Mountaineers up 73-61 before fouling out of the game a minute later.

Lock Haven made a late run, closing to 81-76 on a 3-pointer by Dave Garcia with 1:32 remaining and got it a one possession game nine seconds later when Wali Hepburn hit two free throws to make it a three point game at 81-78.

That would be the last points the Mountaineer defense would give up and Mansfield closed out the game on a 9-0 run starting and ending on dunks by Wise.

Mansfield connected on a season-high 10 3-pointers including six by Katopodis and held a commanding 38-25 rebounding advantage.

Wise had career-highs with 23 points and 13 rebounds and connected on 7-of-11 from the floor and 8-of-11 free throw attempts. The sophomore also dished out three assists with three steals and blocked two shots.

Charles Pemberton came up just short of his third straight double-double scoring 12 points and pulling down eight rebounds.

The win was the 123rd in head coach Rich Miller's 10 seasons at the helm moving him to four of tying Tom Ackerman (1989-99) for the second-most coaching wins in school history. Miller also improves to 8-0 against Lock Haven in games at Decker Gymnasium.

Mansfield improves to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the PSAC East. The Mountaineers are off for finals until traveling to Indiana (PA) on Dec. 16.