A strong second half carried the Misericordia University men's basketball team past Baptist Bible and into the McCarthy Tire Laurel Line championship game as MU prevailed 73-59, Friday in the Anderson Center.

Five different Cougars scored in double-figures as MU shot 60% as a team after halftime. Junior Ethan Eichhorst led the way with 17 points while fellow starters Robbie Johnson (15), Jeff Slanovec (12), Matt Greene (12) and Sean Bieski (10) chipped in as well.

Misericordia advances to face Marywood in the tournament final, tomorrow night at 8 PM in the Anderson Center. The Pacers advanced by easily dispatching Penn State-Hazleton 72-56.

A Johnson lay-in with 11 minutes remaining put the Cougars up 46-36 and forced the Defenders to call timeout. When the teams returned to the floor, Billy Artzerovian finished a fast break, Chris Undersinger drained a three and Bieski hit a bucket as Misericordia opened up its advantage.

The MU lead would remain in double-digits the rest of the way, as the Cougars had an answer for everything that BBC threw at them late. Slanovec hit a big three when Baptist Bible had pulled to within 11, and Johnson hit consecutive hoops with under three minutes to play, clinching the victory.

The Cougars had struggled for much of the first half, shooting just 33.3% and allowing BBC to go on a 13-2 run highlighted by a pair of three-pointers from Tommy Waszaj.

Following a Slanovec three-pointer, some determined defense by MU captain Frank Nutt allowed the Cougars to claw their way back into the game.

First a nice block by Nutt led to an easy Johnson fast break bucket that cut the Baptist Bible lead to 22-18. A minute later, Nutt's steal led to a three-pointer by Eichhorst that tied the game up.

In all, the Cougars ran off 12 unanswered points, capped by a Greene three-pointer, and led 28-24 at the break.

Greene had been on fire early in the game, draining two threes from the left corner in almost identical plays, with the assists coming from Slanovec.

Baptist Bible star Nathan Greve missed all but two minutes of the first half after quickly getting himself into foul trouble. He started the second half and immediately contributed with an assist and a bucket in the opening minutes of the period, but also picked up a third foul.

The Defenders were within two at 32-30 after Greve's basket but Slanovec ran off five straight points to open the game up.

Junior Ryan Sullivan led BBC with 15 points. Waszaj had 14 while Greve finished with 13 points and eight boards.

Misericordia is 2-0 on the season heading into tomorrow's title match with Marywood.