NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Manchester men's basketball held off the visiting Mount St. Joseph University Lons by a final score of 75-71 to improve to 7-3 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) play on Saturday, January 20.

The Lions jumped out to a nine point lead after the opening eight minutes of action on Saturday. The Spartans would answer, tying the score at 22 apiece with 6:49 left to play in the first quarter. After a back-and-forth battle, Manchester pulled ahead by five points with just under three minutes to go before the half. MSJ hit a three-point shot to put the Spartans down by two with 14 seconds on the clock. Bryant Smith (West Lafayette, Ind., Harrison) hit a jump-shot in the paint to tie the score at 35-35 going into halftime.

The Spartans and Lions continued their hard-fought, back-and-forth battle in the second half, with neither team leading by more than six points. With a two-point lead and just five seconds left to play in Saturday's game, Mitch Mendenhall (New Haven, Ind., Woodlan) was fouled after pulling down his fifth rebound of the night, taking him to the free throw line with three seconds left on the clock. Mendenhall  would make both of his free throws to put the Black and Gold up by four points and the Spartans hung on to win Saturday's game by a final score of 75-71 to pick up their tenth win of the season. 

As a team, the Black and Gold shot 44.3% from the field with 38 total points scored in the paint. Manchester outrebounded Mount St. Joseph 31-26.

Bryant Smith led Manchester with 35 points, shooting a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. Zach Sawyer (Columbus, Ohio, Bishop Watterson) collected his ninth double-double of the season after scoring 15 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. Coy Hampton (Park Forest, Ill., Crete Monee) added eight points, while Blake Shewmaker (Bargersville, Greenwood Christian Academy) tallied seven points on the night.

Up next, Manchester men's basketball will travel to Rose-Hulman on Wednesday, January 24 for their second matchup of the season. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. in Terre Haute, Ind.