The Misericordia University men's basketball team's second-half rally came up just short as the Cougars fell at Susquehanna, 60-58, Monday.

Ethan Eichhorst led the Cougars with 16 points and10 rebounds and Jeff Slanovec added 14 points.  Justin Grotevant added 10 points as the Cougars fell to 6-2.

MU trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half, but battled back to a 56-56 tie on Matt Greene's coast-to-coast layup with 1:35 to play.

After a Susquehanna three-pointer, Eichhorst's layup got MU within 59-58 with under a minute to go.

Susquehanna went ahead 60-58 on a free throw with 19 seconds to play and the Cougar's desperation three-pointer was off the mark at the buzzer.

The Cougars trailed 31-23 at halftime and chipped away at the Crusaders' lead throughout the second half.

Susquehanna responded to each challenge and used a three-point play to build their biggest lead of the night, 52-41, with 7:48 to play.

Slanovec rallied MU with a three-pointer and Justin Grotevant's jumper made it 52-46 with just under six minutes to play.

Two free throws put Susquehanna ahead, 54-46, before back-to-back layups by Eichhorst made it 54-50 with 3:51 to go.

Slanovec sank two free throws to get within 54-52 with 3:14 remaining.

Down 56-52, Dylan Grotevant slashed to the hoop for two and Greene converted a steal for a 56-56 tie.

The Cougars will host Albright, Wednesday at 7:00.