The Misericordia men's basketball team won their opening Freedom Conference game of the season with a 74-64 road win over local rival Wilkes.

Jeff Slanovec led MU in scoring for the fourth consecutive game, this time dropping 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-7 from behind the arc.

Senior Dom Del Prete added 17 points and eight rebounds, and fellow captain Marcus Little scored 13 points to go with a team-high five assists.

With Misericordia leading 44-36 early in the second half, Wilkes' Chris DeRojas drained one of his four three-pointers to cut the lead to five. After another Wilkes' basket, Del Prete stopped the run with a three-pointer before Johnson converted a three-point play to put MU back up by seven.

Del Prete sank another three-pointer to make the score 55-47, followed by a Slanovec basket to give Misericordia its first double-digit lead of the contest.

With 4:30 to play, Slanovec hit a three, although Tyler Breznitsky responded with two of his own on the Colonels' ensuing possessions.

With under three minutes to go, Little stole a pass in the backcourt and was fouled, hitting one free throw to again give MU a ten-point lead.

The Cougars hit their next six free throws after that point and closed out the game despite a string of misses in the final two minutes.

After Wilkes had opened the game with a basket, Slanovec drained long-range three-pointers on Misericordia' first two possessions.

Robbie Johnson found Del Prete with a tough off-balance pass for an easy lay-in, giving MU a 12-8 advantage. Slanovec then hit his third consecutive trey to open up a seven-point gap just five minutes into the contest.

The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the first half, as both sides struggled with their shooting. The Cougars recovered somewhat to shoot 44% in the opening period, while Wilkes was shooting just 34% at halftime (39% for the game).

The Colonels scored five quick points in the first 40 seconds of the second period, punctuated by a three-pointer from the corner by DeRojas. Tom Kresge then scored from top of the key before Del Prete halted the Colonel spurt with a drive to the hoop.

Wilkes' Paul Huch missed a three-pointer but stole the ball back and made a tough bank shot from the baseline, again cutting the Cougar lead to one. This time Mark Williams had the answer, with a put-back bucket.

The Cougars improve to 5-1, 1-0 on the season with the victory. Misericordia continues Freedom Conference play on Saturday with a trip to Eastern.