Men's basketball loses close game to Mount Mercy

The Viterbo men’s basketball team start their season with a loss to the Mount Mercy Mustangs. The game came down to the last few seconds as Mount Mercy squeezed by with a 74-73 victory. The V-Hawks came out slow starting 0-9 from the field before Noah Fredrickson, a junior, hit a three pointer at about the 16-minute mark. Fredrickson helped keep the game close in the first half with 14 points. Freshman Jack Monis also added in ten first-half points to keep it close. The first half was back and forth between the Mustangs and the V-Hawks.

The Mustangs began the second half with a 19-9 run to put them up by 14, the V-Hawks down by five and trailing much the same. Tyree Young led the V-Hawks in scoring in the second half with 14 points, helping mount a comeback. The team was able to cut the lead down to just one with 47 seconds left with a three from Tyree making the score 74-73. They were able to force a shot clock violation with 13 seconds remaining in the game. Fredrickson was given a clean look at the last second three with one second left on the play clock, but he barely missed the shot.

Overall, the game for the V-Hawks shot 40% from the field and 28% from three-point line. The Mustangs were shooting 46% from the field and 37% from the three-point line. They also got to the line 14 times and converted on 13 of those attempts. The V-Hawks were led by Young who recorded a double-double and had 20 points and 11 rebounds, Fredrickson with 19, and Monis with 16.