ERIE, Pa. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team downed Concord (W.Va.) University, 92-80, on Friday afternoon in Gannon (Pa.) University's Hammermill Center to qualify for Saturday's Gary Miller Classic championship game. Senior Patrick Gardner (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun/Nassau CC) netted 33 points in the contest.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (3-1), Concord (1-4)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Gardner, 33 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, 13-for-18 field goals, 2-for-3 three-pointers
• First-year Nahshon Battle (Scotch Plains, N.J./Woodstock Academy), 16 points, 6-for-7 field goals
• First-year CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 6-for-9 field goals
• First-year Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 8 points
• First-year Chuma Oyigbo (Stoughton, Mass./Redemption Christian [N.Y.]) Academy), 7 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists
• Junior Kasai Brown (Brooklyn, N.Y./Millbrook School), 4 assists
• Junior Jalen Gorham (York, Pa./MacDuffie School), 3 steals

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Lual Daniel Rahama, 27 points, 13 rebounds, 5 offensive rebounds
• Senior Brandon Kennedy, 12 points, 4-for-8 three-pointers
• Senior Matt Weir, 11 points, 11 assists
• Junior Ethan Heller, 9 points, 7 assists 

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights shot 57.8% for the game to the Mountain Lions' 42.5%, including forging a 64.3%-38.9% lead in the second half.
• Saint Michael's put together additional advantages in rebounding (42-36), blocks (6-2), steals (10-4), paint points (56-2), fast-break points (7-0), bench points (33-17) and three-point shooting (46.2%-38.9%).
• The teams met for the first time.
• Battle and Crews both set career highs in scoring, with Crews matching his season point total entering the game.
• Gardner notched the fourth 30-point game of his college career, and first while wearing Purple and Gold. He came within three points of his career high, set on Jan. 20, 2020, for Nassau Community College against Roxbury Community College.
• Saint Michael's made its first trip to former Mideast Collegiate Conference (MECC) counterpart Gannon since March 1987, when the Purple Knights lost a pair of NCAA Tournament games on March 6-7 during their third visit to the Hammermill Center in a little more than a month. The Purple and Gold's prior victory there had come on Feb. 28, 1987, when it captured the MECC Tournament with a 79-68 championship game triumph over Philadelphia University.
• The Purple Knights had last played in Erie, Pa., on Dec. 16-17, 2007, during the Mercyhurst University Classic.

THE ACTION

• Five points by Gardner helped the Purple Knights forge a 7-1 lead by 17:30 of the first half.
• Three Mountain Lions hit a three-pointer in an ensuing 1:18 stretch to push Concord into a 10-9 lead.
• Senior Jason Heter's (Andover, N.J./Newton) putback had Saint Michael's up 13-9, but the Mountain Lions responded with an 18-5 run, as Heller knocked down a pair of triples 1:03 apart late in the run. Concord led 27-18 at 9:08.
• The Purple Knights countered with a 20-4 stretch, as Gardner scored 11 points, including a jumper that capped the stretch with 3:23 left and his team leading 38-31.
• Rahama's short jumper with five seconds left had Concord within 44-43, but Crews hit a three-pointer from just beyond midcourt at the buzzer, sparking a 13-3 run that carried into the second half. Crews' steal and lay-in pushed Saint Michael's into a 57-46 lead at 17:26.
• Rahama's jumper cut the deficit to 60-58 by 14:22, but Gardner scored seven points in a 12-2 counter, giving the Purple and Gold a 12-point edge with 8:49 left.
• A trio of Kennedy threes in a matter of 2:13 brought Concord within 78-75 with 4:32 to go, but Saint Michael's held the Mountain Lions to 1-for-4 shooting with five turnovers during a 12-2 run that sealed the win. Rookies Battle, Duniver and Oyigbo all had baskets in that stretch.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Saturday in the Gary Miller Classic championship game at 7:30 p.m. against either Gannon or D'Youville (N.Y.) College.