Briar Cliff men's basketball dropped a nonconference contest to Mount Mercy Wednesday night 89-84 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. BC drops to 2-3 on the season and will look to bounce back this Saturday as they open conference play. 
 
It was a sluggish start for the Chargers, as they trailed 12-2 after four minutes of play. A 15-2 run, behind 11 bench points, gave the Blue and Gold a 17-14 lead midway through the first half. After trading baskets for five minutes, the Mustangs ended the half strong taking a 47-37 lead at intermission.
 
BC trailed by 14 at the 13-minute mark of the second half but they cut the Mustang lead to 58-53 after a 9-0 run. The Cliff stayed within single digits of Mount Mercy the rest of the way, but with every Charger basket the Mustangs were able to answer with a bucket of their own en route to their five point win. 
 
"I thought our bench was very big for us again tonight," said head coach Mark Svagera. "At this point we need to learn to play for 40 minutes from the tip, or we will continue to put ourselves in a hole."
 
Kyle Boerhave scored 23 points and went 8-for-12 from the floor to lead the Cliff. Matthew Stilwill played big minutes off the bench, scoring 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting to go with three rebounds and two steals. Nick Hoyt and Jaden Kleinhesselink added 10 and nine points, respectively.
 
While Briar Cliff shot 50 percent from the field, they struggled from beyond the arc, converting just 17.4 percent of their attempts. They outrebounded the Mustangs 30-29, tallied more bench points 39-25 and had more second chance points 6-2.
 
Mount Mercy shot at a 59.6 percent clip from the floor and also struggled from deep at 23.1 percent. The Mustangs made 24-of-31 free throw attempts and scored 48 points in the paint.
 
RoyShawn Webb led all players with 31 points, going 11-for-13 from the field and 9-for-12 from the free throw line. Bailey Basala recorded a double double with 16 points and 12 boards. 
 
 The Chargers look ahead to Saturday's GPAC opener against Concordia in the Newman Flanagan Center. Tip-off is set for 6:45 p.m.