BETHLEHEM, Pa. -  The Northampton men's basketball team dropped a non-conference matchup on Saturday afternoon, falling 56-55 to Division II Mercer County Community College, at the Arthur L. Scott Spartan Center. 

In a tight affair throughout, one in which neither team lead by more than 6 points, the Vikings of Mercer overcame a 6 point deficit late in the second half to earn the hard fought victory.  "We had chances down the stretch and we didn't execute," remarked Head Coach Brennan McCarthy, "you need to be able to make plays against good teams if you expect to win and we simply did not finish today."

Elijah Hamilton (Atglen, PA/Octorara Jr/Sr) led the Spartans with 14 points and and 14 rebounds, while Nile Mosby (Philadelphia, PA/Carver Engineering & Sciences) added 11 points and Nate Rivera (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) chipped in with 10.

Northampton held the rebounding edge 44-35 and points in the paint (26 to 18), but the Vikings converted 10 3-pointers in the contest.

The loss drops Northampton to 15-8 overall, while Mercer moves to 11-10.

The Spartans return to the Arthur L. Scott Center on Tuesday February 6th when they host RCSJ-Gloucester in a Region 19 contest at 7pm.