The Misericordia men survived an ugly basketball game and a late Wilkes comeback to defeat the Colonels 77-71 and move into fourth place in the Freedom Conference standings.

The Cougars improved to 11-8 overall with the victory. More importantly, they moved to 5-4 in the league standings and assumed sole possession of the fourth spot thanks to Manhattanville's loss against DeSales.

Senior Marcus Little shot 5-of-7 from the field with team-highs for points (17) and assists (4). Dom Del Prete and Robbie Johnson each scored 14 points, while center Mark Williams added 12.

A choppy game saw 48 total fouls whistled, and the Cougars played most of the second half in significant foul trouble. Freshman Sean Bieski fouled out while Del Prete, Johnson and Williams all ended the game with four fouls. Wilkes also had four players with at least four personals.

With seven minutes remaining, Little scored to give Misericordia its largest lead of the game, 64-46. Wilkes responded with a furious 19-5 run, as the Cougars went without a field goal for a 5:20 stretch.

Now up just four, sophomore Ethan Eichhorst battled his way to a pair of offensive rebounds and converted his second put-back attempt, finally breaking the MU slump.

A spinning move into the lane by Johnson put the Cougars up 73-66, but Wilkes' Tom Kresge answered with a three-point play to keep the Colonels within striking distance. The game wasn't sealed until a Wilkes guard threw an uncontested pass out of bounds with 25 seconds remaining, all but ending an impressive comeback attempt.

In the first half, Misericordia had jumped out to an 8-2 lead after a Del Prete three-point play, but Wilkes came back to tie the game at 16-all. Little then took over, executing a dazzling spin move in the lane and following that with a three-pointer to make the score 25-19. The Cougars were up by eight at the half.

Wilkes was led by Kresge (8-of-16, 23 points, 12 rebounds) and Paul Huch (8-of-15, 20 points). Anthony Gabriel chipped in with 16 points and a game-high five assists.

Each side attempted 31 free throws on a whistle-filled evening, while the Colonels' undoing may have been their 1-of-12 performance from behind the arc (8.3%).

Misericordia now faces a massive home game on Saturday at 3 PM, when they host second-place Eastern (6-3, one game ahead of the Cougars).