Steve Artzerounian scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Misericordia University men's basketball team to an impressive 76-61 win over Wilkes in a key Freedom Conference contest, Wednesday in the Anderson Center.

Ethan Eichhorst and Matt Greene added 18 and 16 points, respectively, as the Cougars improved to 14-6 and 6-3 to move into a second-place tie with Wilkes.

Leading 43-36 at halftime, Artzerounian opened the second half with a short jumper to give MU a 45-36 lead and the Cougars never looked back.

Cael Evans came up with a steal and found Eichhorst for a 49-40 advantage and Greene's three-pointer made it 52-40 with 15:11 remaining.

Eichhorst drained a jumper off an inbounds pass to give MU a 54-44 lead and Artzerounian's turnaround made it 56-46 with 11:20 to go.

After Wilkes got within four, 61-57, with 6:26 to play, Artzerounian answered again with a three-point play for a 66-57 lead at 6:00.

Artzerounian put back his own miss for a 68-57 lead and Greene's scoop shot beat the shot clock buzzer for a 70-57 lead with 2:36 to play.

The Cougars led 43-36 after a fast-paced first half thanks to 12 points from Eichhorst and 11 from Greene, including four three-pointers, as the Cougars shot 62.1% from the floor over the first 20 minutes.

After Matt Mullins drained a three-pointer to beat the shot clock and give the Colonels an early 7-3 lead, Artzerounian answered with a layup on a nice feed from Jeff Slanovec.

Eichhorst tied it 7-7 on the next possession on a nifty pass from Artzerounian.

After Mullins put Wilkes ahead 10-7 with another trey, Eichhorst grabbed a defensive rebound and made a layup at the other end to get within 10-9.

With Wilkes leading 14-9, Greene buried a deep three-pointer and Eichhorst found Artzerounian driving the lane to cut the deficit to 16-14.

Eichhorst tied it with a lay-in, but the Colonels responded with four straight points before Chris Undersinger drilled a three-pointer from in front of the Wilkes bench to get MU within 20-19.

Another three-pointer from Greene tied it at 22-22 and Joe Busacca's up-and-under layup gave MU a 24-22 lead.

Busacca converted a driving layup into a three-point play on the next possession for a 27-24 lead.

Artzerounian's floater in the lane started a 7-0 run that gave MU a 34-27 lead.  Eichhorst took a nice pass from Slanovec and Slanovec followed with a long three-pointer.

Following a Wilkes' bucket, Eichhorst made a wide-open layup from Greene for a 36-29 lead and Greene drove the baseline for a reverse layup and a 38-31 advantage.

Greene made a long three-pointer to close out the first half scoring.

Misericordia will travel to DeSales, Saturday.