The Misericordia University men's basketball team has qualified for the Freedom Conference playoffs for the second time in its three-year tenure in the league, and now the Cougars face a familiar foe in two-time defending champion DeSales. This will be the sixth meeting in two years for the new rivals, with the previous four being decided by an average of just four points.

It seems that in order to climb over the hump and grab its first-ever NCAA conference championship, Misericordia will first have to find a way past DeSales. The third-seeded Cougars (15-10, 8-6) play at second-seeded DSU (18-7, 9-5), Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs became the standard-bearer of the conference after an Elite Eight appearance in 2008-09 and followed that up with a trip to the Sweet 16 last year. It almost didn't happen, but an underdog Misericordia team couldn't hang on to a nine-point second half lead in the Freedom championship game at DeSales.

The Cougars also went into Center Valley late in the 2009-10 regular season and took a second half lead, but ultimately fell 63-59 despite being within a point in the final minute.

MU finally earned a road victory over DeSales this season, defeating the Bulldogs 63-58 behind Ethan Eichhorst's 22 points. Then, with a chance to grab first place from the Bulldogs at home, the Cougars led for the entire second half until a strange sequence of events allowed DSU to win from the free throw line in the dying seconds.

If MU is to grab a second road victory over the defending champs, it will need big efforts from its All-Conference upperclassman pair- Eichhorst (19.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and senior Robbie Johnson (15.6 ppg, 3.8 apg, league-high 50 steals)

Junior Jeff Slanovec (60 made three-pointers) is another offensive weapon for the Cougars. Starting freshman point guard Matt Greene has played beyond his years this season, and showed composure in difficult road games at Eastern (5-of-9, 19 points) and Manhattanville (13 points). He will be called upon to run an offense that can't afford to make mistakes against a loaded DSU team.

DeSales is run by senior Brian Hunter (16.2 ppg, league-leading 6.4 apg), the best point guard in the league and a first-team All-Freedom selection. Sophomore Brett Moyer (15.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg) was also an all-conference choice.

Sophomore Brian Kerwin (9.9 ppg, 45.0% three-point shooting) and junior Bob Zanneo (10.5 ppg, 43 made three-pointers) are both long-range shooting threats  DeSales will test Misericordia's depth, with 11 players averaging over eight minutes a game.

Tip-off is at 8 PM, after the DeSales women face Manhattanville in another semifinal. The DSU-MU winner will face the winner of Wilkes at Delaware Valley in Saturday's championship game.