WALDRON GRAIN & FUEL

03/03 03:43 CST Mercyhurst Lakers play the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights in NEC Tournament Mercyhurst Lakers play the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights in NEC Tournament By The Associated Press Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (11-20, 8-10 NEC) at Mercyhurst Lakers (15-16, 10-8 NEC) Erie, Pennsylvania; Wednesday, 7 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Mercyhurst faces Fairleigh Dickinson in the NEC Tournament. The Lakers are 10-8 against NEC opponents and 5-8 in non-conference play. Mercyhurst scores 69.7 points while outscoring opponents by 2.0 points per game. The Knights are 8-10 in NEC play. Fairleigh Dickinson allows 70.2 points to opponents while being outscored by 2.8 points per game. Mercyhurst's average of 6.0 made 3-pointers per game is 1.9 fewer made shots on average than the 7.9 per game Fairleigh Dickinson gives up. Fairleigh Dickinson averages 67.4 points per game, 0.3 fewer than the 67.7 Mercyhurst gives up. The teams meet for the third time this season. The Knights won 55-52 in the last matchup on Feb. 7. Taeshaud Jackson led the Knights with 16 points, and Bernie Blunt led the Lakers with 26 points. TOP PERFORMERS: Blunt is averaging 17.5 points for the Lakers. Jake Lemelman is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games. Joey Niesman is scoring 12.3 points per game and averaging 3.8 rebounds for the Knights. Eric Parnell is averaging 1.8 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Lakers: 5-5, averaging 76.9 points, 30.8 rebounds, 14.1 assists, 7.0 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.8 points per game. Knights: 4-6, averaging 63.7 points, 30.6 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 4.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game while shooting 42.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.8 points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.