La Plume, PA – Keystone College shot 72 percent from the field including a 7-10 effort from three-point range in the second half of Tuesday evening's Colonial States Athletic Conference men's basketball game against Immaculata University to earn an 89-87 victory over the Mighty Macs, who were previously unbeaten in conference play. The Giants, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, got a game-high 29 points from
Duncan Lunsford (Marietta, GA/Sprayberry) to improve to 2-9 on the season and 2-4 in the CSAC.
DaVaughn Roberts-Thomas (Port Arthur, TX/Silsbee) gave Keystone a 16-15 lead midway through the first half on a layup, but Immaculata (7-6, 5-1 CSAC) countered with a 18-4 run over the next five minutes to hold a 33-20 advantage with 5:01 showing on the first half clock. The Giants answered by outscoring the Mighty Macs 15-6 over the final five minutes of the period to narrow their deficit to 39-35 at the intermission.
Immaculata's Mamadou Diakite led all players with 16 points and six rebounds in the opening 20 minutes of play while Roy Ferrell Jr. added nine points for the Mighty Macs, who shot 40.6 percent from the field in first half while going 3-11 from beyond the arc and 10-12 from the free throw line.
Lunsford paced Keystone with 13 points in the first frame while Roberts-Thomas added eight points.
Tyreek Peeples (Philadelphia, PA/Girard College) led the Giants with five boards and four assists as the hosts connected on 33.3 percent of their field goal attempts in the period while going just 2-15 from downtown. The hosts shot well from the line in the half though, going 11-13 from the charity stripe.
After Peeples tied the game at 41-apiece just over two minutes into the second half, Diakite put Immaculata back in front with a layup before
Rashaud Kelley (Sharon, PA/Paul Laurence Dunbar) drained a three-pointer to ignite an 18-6 run by Keystone that gave the hosts a 59-49 lead with 12:43 remaining in regulation. The Giants extended their lead to as many as 13 points and held an 87-76 advantage with 46 seconds left on the clock. The Mighty Macs hit three treys in the closing seconds, but it wouldn't be enough as Keystone held on for the two-point victory.
Lunsford's game-high 29 points came on a 10-14 shooting performance that including a 4-6 effort from downtown while Keystone's all-time leading scorer also went 5-6 from the free throw line.
Miles Dargan (Orlando, FL/Wekiva) added 14 points and two steals while Peeples finished with 12 points matched a season-high with 12 points and led all players with eight assists while pulling down a team-best six rebounds to go along with a pair of steals. Roberts Thomas was the fourth player in double-figures for the Giants with 10 points.
Kelly contributed nine points, five boards, and a game-high four blocked shots for Keystone, who finished the evening shooting 50 percent from the floor, 36 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.6 percent from the charity stripe.
Diakite recorded a double-double on 22 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to pace Immaculata while Ferrell Jr. and Matt Simon added 16 points apiece in the loss. Rodney Duncan and Ron Melton each scored 10 points on the night with Duncan leading the visitors with four helpers. For the game, the Mighty Macs hit on 45.7 percent of their field goal attempts while going 33.3 percent from three-point land and 71.4 percent from the free throw line.
The Giants were plus-five in the turnover department while the Mighty Macs held a 45-31 advantage on the glass for the contest.
Keystone will be right back in action tomorrow evening when they host Baptist Bible College in a CSAC contest scheduled for 8:00 p.m. as the backend of a men's and women's doubleheader against the Defenders.