Postgame Press Conference

INDIANA, Pa. -- Patrick Smith's three with 7.1 seconds remaining lifted fourth-seeded Mercyhurst to a 63-60 victory over Fairmont State in the first round of the Atlantic Region Tournament on Saturday evening.
 
Mercyhurst will now move on to Sunday's regional semifinal against top-seeded Indiana (PA) at 7:30 p.m. at the Kovalchick Complex. Third-seeded Virginia State and second-seeded West Liberty will square off in Sunday's first semifinal at 5 p.m.
 
Fairmont State's 2018-19 season comes to an end with a 22-9 overall record.
 
The setback also ends the career of four Fairmont State seniors, including guards Jason Jolly and Vonte Montgomery, and forwards R.J. Hutcherson and Vince Franklin.
 
Montgomery, who finished today's game with a team-high 22 points and 13 rebounds, wraps up his career with 1,468 career points, which ranks 32^nd in school history. He is also fifth all-time in career 3-pointers with 177, and sixth in career steals with 156.
 
Montgomery also pulled down 13 or more rebounds for the sixth time in the last eight games.
 
Jolly, who finished Saturday's game with five points, wraps up his career in 16^th place all-time with 1,722 points. Jolly also leaves Fairmont State as the career leader in made 3-pointers with 323, and is fifth all-time in career assists with 411.
 
Jolly also made 108 three-pointers this season, which is the second-most in a single season at Fairmont State.
 
Despite shooting just 31.6 percent from the field, Mercyhurst took advantage of 23 offensive rebounds and scored 22 second-chance points in the win. Mercyhurst held a 54-42 overall rebounding advantage.
 
Fairmont State shot nearly 10 percent better then Mercyhurst in the game (41.4-31.6), despite turning in just a 4-of-23 performance from behind the arc (17.4%). The Falcons also turned the ball over a season-high 19 times in the loss.
 
Mercyhurst took advantage by scoring 22 points off turnovers on Saturday evening.
 
In addition to Montgomery and Jolly, the Falcons also got 12 points and two rebounds from Andrew Emrick, and seven points and six boards from Hutcherson.
 
Jason Massey scored a game-high 30 points and 11 rebounds, while Smith chipped in 14 points and a game-high 18 boards. Massey and Smith combined for 15 offensive rebounds on the night. Derrick Ellis was also closing in on a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.
 
Saturday's game had 14 lead changes, 10 ties, and the largest lead by both teams was just seven points.