The Misericordia University men's basketball team led the entire way and fought off a late Scranton charge to defeat the Royals 76-66, Tuesday in the Anderson Center.

Junior Ethan Eichhorst had 24 points and eight rebounds while senior Robbie Johnson also had a big day with 18 points, nine boards and five assists.

Freshman Matt Greene had 12 points and four assists, while junior Jeff Slanovec chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Scranton pulled to within one and had the ball back with seven minutes remaining when MU's Sean Bieski came up with a huge block that led to Greene feeding Johnson for a much-needed Misericordia bucket. On the next possession, Greene found Bieski to put the Cougars up 59-54.

Johnson stretched the lead further with a diving offensive rebound, managing to keep his dribble while on the floor and get back up to lay-in for two.

Two baskets by Eichhorst earlier in the second half had given MU its largest lead of the day, 44-32. A three-point play by Eichhorst had just made it 51-41 when the Royals made their push.

First Andrew Wynne banked one in and cleaned up a broken play for another hoop. Tommy Morgan dropped a trey and Zach Asworth hit a bucket before Luke Hawk's put-back pulled Scranton to within one and completed a lightning 7-0 run that was halted just in time by Bieski's rejection.

The Cougars had opened the scoring and jumped out to an early 8-2 advantage after a bank shot from Bieski and nice drive to the lane by Johnson. After a rebound, Johnson then went coast-to-coast for a lay-in that put Misericordia up 12-4.

The Royals struggled with their shooting, going just 9% (1-for-11) from behind the arc in the first half. MU had better luck, as Chris Undersinger's 25-footer put the Cougars up 15-7 before Slanovec canned one from the corner to stretch the lead to nine.

In between, Greene had found Eichhorst with a cross-court pass for an easy lay-in. The freshman also contributed with a step-back three-pointer to put Misericordia up by 11.

Scranton rallied with field goals from Asworth and Travis Farrell in the final minutes to cut MU's halftime lead to six, 29-23.

Asworth led the Royals with 20 points after getting to the charity stripe eight times in the second half. Hawk had 12 points and Wynne added 11.

The Cougars improve to 4-0 on the season and begin Freedom Conference play on December 1 with a visit from another local rival, Wilkes.


Game Highlights: