Lakewood, N.J.- Mark another date in the Georgian Court University record books! Playing the first home contest in its young, four-game history, the GCU men's basketball squad shined in front of a high-energy crowd of 450 as the Lions roared to the first win in program history Wednesday evening, an 87-82 victory over visiting Mercy College.

GCU improves to 1-3 while the Mavericks dip to 0-3 on the season.

Mercy's Chaz Morrish (Sr.-Douglaston, N.Y.) drained a three-pointer five minutes into the contest, giving the Mavericks a 13-12 advantage. The lead would be the last for Mercy this evening as the Lions launched a 29-12 run, concluded by a Trey Jones free throw with 4:55 remaining until intermission, giving GCU a 41-25 surplus. The Mavericks outscored Georgian Court, 15-8, over the final 4:38 to cut the deficit to 49-40 going into halftime.

The Lions stormed out of the gates in the second stanza with a 12-2 spurt that increased the score to a game-high, 19-point highwater mark (61-42) 4:10 in. Down 73-55 with 7:00 left on the clock, the Mavericks began to chip away in the scoring column. The visitors shaved the GCU lead to just 85-82 with ten seconds remaining, courtesy of a 27-12 sprint over that time. However, a pair of free throws from Jones in the closing ticks solidified the home triumph.

For the second straight outing, Jordan Wejnert netted a team-high 23 points, which included a perfect five-for-five effort from the charity stripe, in 33 minutes of action. The junior transfer also snagged eight rebounds. Keith Hughes dropped in a season-high 22 points (including a team-leading three three-pointers) in 23 minutes while corralling five rebounds and swatting three Mercy shots.

Jalen Robinson led all players with his nine boards, complementing seven points. Alex Ramirez distributed a team-leading six assists off the GCU bench. Jones popped in 13 points in 31 minutes, including a 7-for-10 free throw effort.

LeBrandon Smith (Sr.-Jamaica, N.Y.) paced the Mercy offense with his game-high 25 points in just 26 minutes, shooting 11-for-17 from the floor and three-for-three from the free-throw line. Morrish contributed 15 points and six assists while Dan Pierrot (So.-New York, N.Y.) provided 11 points for the Mavericks. Jordan Lessane (Jr.-Mount Vernon, N.Y.) tied teammate Morrish with six dishes of his own.

The Lions held a slight advantage in the categories of rebounds (41-40) and field goal percentage (45.2%-42.4%), but dominated, 80.6%-60%, at the free-throw line.

Georgian Court returns to play Saturday afternoon with another non-conference game, this time vs. NYIT. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.