Senior captain Dom Del Prete scored his 1000th career point but the Misericordia University men's basketball team fell 74-66 to local rival King's, Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre.

The Cougars slip to 8-8, 2-4 with the loss.

Del Prete finished with a team-high 22 points and eight rebounds. Jeff Slanovec (15 points) and Marcus Little (13 points) were also in double-figures for the Cougars.

A Misericordia fan in middle of the bleachers kept track of Del Prete's career points total on a white board. Cougars fans were anxiously awaiting the moment where there would be a fourth digit in the tally.

The big shot came with 11:56 remaining in the contest- Del Prete out-muscled his man under the hoop for an offensive rebound and banked in a shot from the right-hand side, giving him exactly 1000 for his career. He added free throws on MU's next two possessions for good measure.

The Cougars still trailed by 11 however, and had work to do. Little started the comeback attempt with a three-pointer, before Slanovec knocked down a trey from the corner to cut the score to 54-49.

After a charge called on the Monarchs, Del Prete forced in a basket to pull MU within three. King's responded with a pair of free throws, but Del Prete was good again from the low block. Finally, the Monarchs went on the break and grabbed their first field goal in almost six and half minutes.

With just over four minutes to go, a Slanovec three-pointer, his fifth of the game, pulled MU within one. Unfortunately, King's immediately answered with a three of their own, and it was a dagger. The Cougars never got closer than four points the rest of the way as they slipped to a tough league defeat.
 
Misericordia had come out firing, scoring on its first five possessions of the game. The run including a pair of Del Prete baskets, and the Cougars led 13-5 after four minutes.

Slanovec hit his second three-pointer of the night to stretch the lead to 16-7, but King's answered with five straight points. Del Prete then re-entered the game after a brief rest and immediately followed up his own miss as the whiteboard showed “993.”

The Monarchs dropped a three-pointer with 30 seconds remaining to take their first lead since the opening possession, but a Sean Bieski put-back just before the horn restored a 33-32 Cougar advantage.

Misericordia will attempt to get their Freedom Conference campaign back on track with a huge home contest on Saturday. MU takes on FDU-Florham at 3 PM.