Box Score Jesse Urich found Justin Grotevant for a layup with just three seconds to play as the Misericordia University men's basketball team escaped with a 65-63 victory over FDU-Florham on Saturday afternoon at the Anderson Center.
 
Steve Ware led the Cougars with 18 points and seven rebounds and Matt Greene added 14, but it was Sean Bieski who came up big for MU, scoring all 13 of his points in the second half and energizing the Cougar crowd with a number of timely plays. Grotevant also had another solid game for MU with 13 points and a team-best eight rebounds.
 
Both teams struggled to score in the early going, and FDU-Florham held an early 6-5 lead nearly five minutes in. However, a Grotevant jumper in the lane would spark a 12-4 Cougar run to give MU a 17-10 lead on a Grotevant three with 8:14 remaining.
 
After the Devils' Derek Hall and the Cougars' Cael Evans traded layups, FDU went on a 13-6 run to tie the score at 23-23 with 2:01 remaining. Greene would close the half with baskets on back-to-back possessions as MU held to a narrow 27-25 lead at halftime.
 
Greene led the Cougars with nine points in the first half while Grotevant added seven points and six rebounds. Derek Hall posted 12 points and six rebounds to lead the Devils while Mike Williamson added 11, including nine in the late first-half run.
 
 The Cougars wasted no time finding their offense in the second half as Bieski threw down an emphatic dunk just 12 seconds into the period to ignite the crowd and extend MU's lead to four points.
 
Ware would score the next six Cougar points to push MU's lead to 35-31, but a Will Green jumper closed the gap back to just two points. Bieski had the answer for MU, completing the three-point play after being fouled on a runner and stealing the ball for another slam as the Cougars extended their lead to 42-33 with 14:12 remaining.
 
The Devils weren't done yet, using an 11-2 run of their own to claw back in and tie the game at 44-44 win 10:07 remaining. However, Greene would score on back-to-back possessions for MU, knocking down a pull-up jumper and shaking a defender with a jab step to bury a deep three as the Cougars regained the lead.
 
A Bieski jumper at the 7:37 mark saw the Cougars lead extend to 53-46 and MU would lead by that same seven-point margin a few possessions later on a Ware jumper. The Devils continued to hang around, as Trevor Sykes, FDU-Florham's leading scorer, scored his first points of the game on a three-pointer with 4:42 remaining to cut the deficit to 55-51.
 
Another Bieski three-point play with 3:16 remaining extended the MU lead back to 60-53, but FDU just kept fighting, clawing back and tying the game at 63-63 on a Mike Williamson jumper with just 38 seconds remaining, prompting MU head coach Trevor Woodruff to call a timeout.
 
It looked as if the game might head into overtime, as the Devils kept the Cougars from getting a good look. However, with the shot clock running down, Jesse Urich drove the ball and scooped it to Grotevant, who laid it in as the shot clock was expiring to give MU the 65-63 lead. The Devils were unable to get a shot off before time expired.
 
Williamson led the Devils with 22 points off the bench while Derek Hall added 16 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
The Cougars shot 54 percent from the floor (27-50) and held a 36-30 advantage on the boards but struggled from the line, hitting just 7-13 (54 percent).  MU held FDU-Florham to 41 percent shooting from the field, including 24 percent from three (5-21). Also, the Cougars held the Devils' Justin Sykes, who came into the game averaging 16.6 points per contest, to just six points on 2-10 shooting.
 
With the victory, the Cougars remain tied with preseason favorite DeSales at the top of the Freedom Conference standings with a perfect 4-0 record in league play. Those two teams will meet up at DeSales on Wednesday night at 8:00 PM.