Senior Robbie Johnson and junior Ethan Eichhorst combined for over half of MU's scoring as the Misericordia University men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought 77-69 contest, Saturday at Delaware Valley.

Johnson scored 15 in the first half and finished with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, pushing his career total to 986. Eichhorst shot 9-of-17 from the field and notched game-highs with 20 points and nine rebounds. Junior Jeff Slanovec (14 points) was also in double-figures for the Cougars.

For the entire second half, Misericordia hung within five until the last minute of play. However, the visitors also never managed to take the lead after halftime, with the teams trading baskets the whole way.

Freshman Matt Greene hit a three-pointer with 8:49 remaining to tie the game at 55-all, but Delaware Valley quickly answered and then held off the Cougars the rest of the way.

MU was within three with two minutes left but turned the ball over on consecutive possessions, allowing the Aggies to close out the game.

The Cougars had struggled with their shooting early, as the Aggies jumped out to an early 20-7 lead.

Slanovec got things going for Misericordia with a trey, and the Cougars held Delaware Valley to just a pair of three-pointers over the next nine minutes of action.

A pair of free throws from Johnson cut the gap to one point with 2:15 left in the half, and Slanovec scored five points in the span of 17 seconds to finally put Misericordia in the lead, 32-30.

An Eichhorst layup made it 34-32 with 47 seconds remaining, but the Aggies dropped a late three-pointer to take a one-point lead into the break.

MU falls to 8-6, 1-2 with the loss and will travel to defending Freedom Conference champion DeSales on Wednesday.