Syracuse, N.Y. – Bernie Blunt is well aware of his dad’s prolific high school career.

The Mercyhurst guard, who will play against Syracuse in the JMA Wireless Dome Wednesday night, said his grandmother recorded all of his dad’s games when Bernard Jr. played at Jamesville-DeWitt.

“From time to time, we’ll put it on as a family and watch it,” Bernie said, “and he’ll comment, like, ‘Oh, you see how I did that move’ and this and that. I’m like, ‘OK, I understand it. I see it.’ ”

Bernard Blunt Jr., who played at J-D from 1985-90, still holds the record for most Section III career points with 2,507.

Bernie III, a 5-foot-11 guard, headlines a Mercyhurst team that jumped from Division II to Division I in the fall of 2024. In 29 minutes per game, he averages 16.6 points on 39.3% (24-of-61) shooting from the 3-point line for the 4-7 Lakers.

He is playing a fifth year of college basketball, mostly because his junior college coach called him when a ruling from the NCAA came down that permitted players with JUCO experience to regain that year in Division I athletics.

Blunt, who grew up in Pennsylvania, began his career at Quinnipiac, but when his coach left for a different position, Blunt moved on to Harcum College. From there, he played at Edinboro, a Division II school.

There, he attracted the attention of Mercyhurst coach Gary Manchel. Edinboro and Mercyhurst played in the same league before Mercyhurst bumped up to Division I.

When Blunt entered the transfer portal, Manchel pounced.

“I was just really impressed with his level of talent. I mean, he has deep range. He gets to the foul line. He has a good handle,” Manchel said. “He just scores at all three levels. He can go off the dribble. He can get to the free throw line and he can shoot the basketball beyond the arc.”

Manchel was not only impressed with Blunt’s basketball skills. He was a “3.9-4.0″ student who “is one of the nicest young men I’ve ever coached in my career.”

Manchel said the two spoke for a few weeks before Blunt committed to Mercyhurst.

Blunt averaged 12.5 points for the Lakers last season. He said he would have been content to finish his college career, but after Mercyhurst’s compliance office petitioned for an extra year, it allowed Blunt to reframe his personal and team’s goals for 2025-26.

He was a preseason All-NEC pick and is Mercyhurst’s leading scorer. Blunt said he is facing the kind of defensive scrutiny that comes with those distinctions.

“So I’m just going over film and making sure I do the right reads because I’m at the top of everyone’s scouting report,” he said.

Blunt can play on the ball or off the ball and said he has no position preference.

He considers himself, he said, a guy who plays hard and wants to win. Manchel describes Blunt as “one of the most clutch players I’ve seen.”

“I think my best attribute is shooting, and I think I play off the bounce pretty well,” Blunt said. “Where I’m underrated, I think, is I can pass a little bit. But really, I’m just this player that really wants to win and I’ll do what it takes to win.”

Blunt still has many relatives in Syracuse, including his grandmother and his dad’s entire side of the family.

He is expecting plenty of support in the dome when Wednesday’s game tips at 7 p.m.

His dad, who went on to star at St. Joseph’s, is now the director of Explosion Basketball, an AAU program in suburban Philadelphia. Bernard Blunt Jr. was named to the St. Joe’s Hall of Fame (2000) and the Big 5 Basketball Hall of Fame (2001). Bernie said he and his dad are close.

Bernie said he visits his grandmother, his aunt and other relatives during Syracuse summers. Mercyhurst plays in the same conference as Le Moyne and will be back in Syracuse in February.

The game in the JMA Wireless Dome offers a different challenge.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Blunt said. “Syracuse is a very good team and we’re going to play really hard. I’m just going to take it all in, the fans, the gym, the court, just everything.”