The Misericordia University men's basketball team will travel to Delaware Valley for a Freedom Conference semifinal, Wednesday, February 20 at 7:00 p.m.

Misericordia, the defending Freedom champions, enters the post-season at 13-12 overall and seeded third after finishing 9-5 in league play.  Delaware Valley, 17-8 (11-3), is seeded second.  Top-seeded DeSales will host fourth-seeded FDU-Florham in the other semifinal.  The winners will meet Saturday for the Freedom Championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

In its fifth season as a member of the Freedom Conference, Misericordia is making its fourth consecutive Freedom Tournament appearance under head coach Trevor Woodruff.  “We're excited to still be playing,” said Woodruff.  “The opportunity to compete for a conference championship is always our goal and we have a chance to do that.”

Sophomore forward Steve Ware leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 12.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.

Junior point guard Matt Greene adds 11.1 points and 4.5 assists per game and senior forward Justin Grotevant averages 10.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

Sophomore center Cael Evans adds 9.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game off the bench.

Misericordia dropped both games to Delaware Valley during the regular season with both contests going down to the final minutes.  “We'll have to play well in a difficult environment against a good team that we haven't beaten this year,” said Woodruff.  “We've had two very close games, but we haven't been able to close them out.”

In a 60-57 loss at Delaware Valley in January, the Cougars led by four points with a minute to play before the Aggies scored six straight points to take the lead and a Misericordia three-point attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.

The Cougars led 54-51 with three minutes to play in the Anderson Center two weeks ago, but the Aggies rallied for a 61-58 win.  “We played solid defense in our two regular season meetings and we'll need to continue that,” said Woodruff.  “Our guys realize that we still haven't played our best basketball.  We hope to do that on Wednesday.”

Delaware Valley, the 2011 Freedom Champion is making its fourth ever post-season appearance and
third in the last five years.

Senior center Jeremy Beckett is second in the Freedom in scoring (16.1 ppg) and rebounding (11.0 rpg) and is among the national leaders with 16 double-doubles.

Senior forward Daulton Derr and sophomore Jay Donovan add 13.7 and 10.5 ppg, respectively.