ERIE, Pa. - The Saint Michael's College men's basketball team lost to Gannon (Pa.) University, 86-76, on Saturday during the championship game of Gannon's Gary Miller Classic in the Hammermill Center. The former Mideast Collegiate Conference (MECC) counterparts met for the first time since Feb. 10, 1987. Senior Patrick Gardner (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun/Nassau CC) was named to the all-tournament team.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (3-2), Gannon (3-1)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Gardner, 17 points, 13 rebounds, 7-for-14 field goals
• Senior Jontai Williams (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes), 12 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, 5-for-7 field goals, 2-for-4 three-pointers
• First-year Jacob Duniver (Fredericksburg, Va./Woodstock Academy), 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4-for-5 three-pointers
• Junior Kasai Brown (Brooklyn, N.Y./Millbrook School), 11 points
• Junior Jalen Gorham (York, Pa./MacDuffie School), 7 points, 5-for-5 free throws
• First-year CJ Crews (Tampa, Fla./Bayshore Christian School), 3 assists

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Redshirt sophomore Demetrius Mims, 29 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, 14-for-26 field goals
• Redshirt first-year Ike Herster, 16 points
• Graduate student Alonde LeGrand, 14 points, 11 rebounds
• Redshirt sophomore Lance-Amir Paul, 13 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights' visit to former MECC counterpart Gannon was its first since March 1987, when Saint Michael's lost a pair of NCAA Tournament games on March 6-7 during its third visit to the Hammermill Center in a little more than a month. Today's game was only the Purple Knights' fourth on Gannon's home court against the Golden Knights.

THE ACTION

• Williams buried a three-pointer 1:22 into the contest for the opening points before Mims sandwiched jumpers around Paul's three-point play, and the hosts led 7-3 by 15:22.
• First-year Chuma Oyigbo's (Stoughton, Mass./Redemption Christian [N.Y.] Academy) lay-in cut it to a one-possession game, but the Golden Knights used a 10-2 run to take a 17-7 lead at 11:11.
• Paul's steal and transition lay-up pushed the margin to 32-20 at 5:00 before Williams buried a three-pointer and put home a lay-in to cap a personal 5-0 run with 4:17 left, drawing Saint Michael's within seven.
• Gannon went back ahead by as many as 14 points before leading 43-30 at halftime.
• Brown knocked down a triple on the first possession of the second half before Gardner drove baseline and dunked to make it 43-35 with 18:55 to go.
• Mims scored the next three points, and Gannon continued to lead by between nine and 15 points until the late stages of regulation.
• Gardner's jumper cut the deficit to 73-63 with 1:42 left, and first-year Nahshon Battle's (Scotch Plains, N.J./Woodstock Academy) pair of free throws on the next possession produced an eight-point affair.
• However, the next seven points came from the Golden Knights, who shot 11-of-11 on free throws in the final 1:37.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Wednesday at regionally-ranked Southern New Hampshire University, 7:30 p.m.
• The Penmen were fourth in last week's D2SIDA East Region Media Poll.