GWYNEDD VALLEY, PA. -- Gwynedd Mercy moved on to the Atlantic East Men's Basketball Championship with a hard-fought 87-83 semifinal victory over Marymount Thursday evening at The Griffin Complex.

The Griffins travel to Wesley on Saturday for the title game which is tentatively slated to start at 2 p.m. Ticket info will be announced Friday morning. Stay tuned to the Gwynedd Mercy Athletics Website and our social media channels for more information.

Rich Dunham poured in a game-high 23 points as the team connected on 12 three-pointers on the night. Dunham and Shane Ford drained three apiece while Somah Slewion and Manny Clark each had two. For Ford, he finished with a career-high 12 points. Austin Harriott netted 10 points as well.

Xavier Reaves led Marymount with 19 points, Taiga Walker added 15, Ibrahim Kamara had 12, and Ladarious McCord chipped in 11. The Saints hit eight of their 10 three-pointers in the first half, but went 15-for-25 at the free throw line, including a 9-for-17 effort in the second half.

A wild first half was followed by an even wilder second half that saw the teams trade big basket after big basket. The Saints got out to a 16-5 lead in the first half and later a 23-12 edge but GMercyU wrestled their way back in it, eventually erasing those 11-point deficits. A last-second bucket underneath from Harriott to tied things up at 44-44 at the break and looked to shift the momentum.

Neither squad led by more than six points in the second half as Marymount seemed to stay one step ahead of Gwynedd. Ford would hit one of two from the line to tie it again at 59-59 with 12:52 to go. Back-to-back threes from Jaye'Lyn Peebles and Ford finally gave the Griffins their first lead of the half, a six-point advantage (65-59). Ford hit his third triple of the game, this time an off-balance bucket to beat the shot clock for a 72-66 lead at the 7:09 mark.

With just over a minute in regulation, Steve Etienne hit two at the line to tie it for the Saints at 82-82, but Nathaniel Walker gave Gwynedd the lead for good with his three with 44 ticks on the clock. Dunham later hit two at the charity stripe, where he was 11-of-12 for the game, to help ice the outcome.

Dunham and Donoven Spencer each grabbed eight rebounds as GMercyU outrebounded Marymount, 37-22.

This will be the ninth appearance in a conference championship game under Gwynedd Head Coach John Baron. Last season, the Griffins defeated these same Marymount Saints in the inaugural Atlantic East Championship.