Senior Marcus Little put up 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals in 36 minutes of action as the Misericordia men's basketball team was able to grind out a 61-44 victory over Eastern, Sunday in the Anderson Center.

With its fourth straight league win, MU improves to 12-8, 6-4 on the season. The Cougars are now tied with Eastern and King's for second place in the Freedom Conference.

Senior Dom Del Prete also had 12 points for the Cougars, while classmate Mark Williams had a game-high 12 rebounds.

Little took over midway through the second half, stripping an Eastern defender to lead to an easy fast break bucket for Jeff Slanovec, draining a three-pointer on the next possession, and following that with another basket. His second consecutive hoop put the Cougars up 43-33 and their lead never fell to less by eight the rest of the way.

Both teams struggled with their shooting, with the Cougars converting 38.0% from the field and Eastern shooting just 25.8%. Misericordia also struggled from the free throw line, making just 20-of-34 (58.8%), but they sunk enough down the stretch to hold off any chance of a late Eastern comeback.

MU got off to a great start as Del Prete's early three-pointer put the Cougars up 7-0 and forced Eastern to call an early timeout.

Later, Del Prete and Ethan Eichhorst each forced in tough hoops in traffic, giving Misericordia a 15-4 lead.

Misericordia stretched its advantage to 15 with Williams finishing a great Slanovec pass and Sean Bieski finishing a two-pointer. MU didn't score for the final five minutes of the half though, allowing Eastern a 6-0 run to stay close close going into the break.

Guard Martin Soaries had a game-high 14 points for the Eagles, with Alex Nelson adding 13 points and nine rebounds.

Misericordia travels to Lancaster Bible on Monday before facing a tough Freedom Conference road game against first-place DeSales on Wednesday.