Box Score Junior Steve Ware poured in 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and the Misericordia University men's basketball team warded off a late Valiant run to hold on for a 75-70 Senior Day victory over Manhattanville on Saturday afternoon at the Anderson Center.
 
Seniors Sean Bieski and Justin Grotevant each added 10 points for the Cougars with Bieski adding eight rebounds.
 
MU jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead on a Ware layup and a pair of Grotevant field goals, but Manhattanville's Jack Bramswig would answer with a jumper and a dunk to net the score at 6-6.
 
Back-to-back Ware baskets gave the Cougars a four-point edge once again, but a Craig Augustine free throw and an Anthony Maestre jumper would close the gap to 10-9 with 13:08 remaining. From there, the Cougars would post a 12-2 run spanning six minutes of action, capped by a pair of Bieski jumpers, to take a 23-11 lead.
 
The Valiants would continue to fight, using a 11-3 run of their own to cut the deficit to four and drawing as close as three before a Bieski layup with 28 seconds remaining extended MU's lead back to 31-26 at halftime.
 
Ware led the Cougars with nine first-half points while Grotevant added eight. The Cougars shot a blistering 56 percent in the half and held a 23-12 advantage on the boards but 13 turnovers allowed the Valiants to stay in the game.
 
After trading buckets to open the half, the Cougars would go on an 11-2 run, capped by five straight points from Ware, to extend their lead back to 12 at 44-32. Manhattanville managed to keep the lead between nine and 13 points, but a Cael Evans jumper and a huge three by freshman Nick Stanovick pushed MU's lead to 55-39 with 10:44 to play.
 
After trading baskets with the Valians, Evans came up with a big three-point play to give the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 60-43 with 8:43 remaining. The Valiants rallied once more, scoring 12 straight points and holding the Cougars scoreless for four minutes to close the gap to 60-55 with 4:38 to play.
 
A pair of Ware free throws with 4:01 remaining would break the drought and extend MU's lead back to seven and a Bieski layup with 2:04 to play would push the Cougar advantage back to double-digits at 68-58. The Valiants made one final strong surge to cut the deficit to 68-65, but the Cougars went 7-8 from the line in the final minute to hold on for the victory.
 
Maestre led the Valiants with a game-high 21 points while Jack Bramswig posted a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Craig Augustine added 12 points.
 
With the victory, the Cougars improved to 13-12 overall and 9-5 in Freedom Conference play. MU will be the #3-seed in the upcoming Freedom Conference Tournament and will travel to #2-seed Delaware Valley on Wednesday evening for a 7:00 PM contest. The Cougars fell to the Aggies twice during the regular season, each time by three points.