Box Score The Misericordia University men's basketball team cruised to a 79-49 victory over Baptist Bible in the opening round of the 2014 McCarthy Laurel Line Tournament. 

Griffin Sponaugle led the Cougars, scoring a career-high 20 points while Cael Evans and Steve Ware each added 10 points and combined for nine boards. Jesse Urich and James Hawk chipped in with eight points and Kadir McDonald followed with six. Patrick Widdos led MU on the glass with seven boards and Joe Busacca finished with six steals in the win.

The Cougars got out to a hot start, as Sponaugle, Evans and Urich helped the Cougars to a 13-6 lead in the opening half. 

Baptist Bible clawed their way back into the game, coming to withing 16-14 after Adam Brinkley hit two free throws with just over 13 minutes left in the half. 

MU finished the half on a 24-7 run, sparked by long range jumpers from Jacob Battle, Anthony Sergio, Urich and Sponaugle. 

The Cougars appeared to be on a mission in the second half, as Sponaugle caught fire. He opened the half with a three-pointer from the top of the key and Busacca added another. Sponaugle then drained back-to-back three pointers and followed with a strong drive to the hoop to make it 54-27 with just over 15 minutes left to play.

Evans, Ware and Hawk also had strong second halfs as MU put the game out of reach with a relentless offensive attack.

MU finished the game 9-16 from the free-throw line and shot nearly 40 percent from beyond the arc. Ware, Hawk and Busacca added blocks for the Cougars. 

Abe Valentine was the leading scorer for the Defenders with 14 points while Joe Chupick added seven. 

With the win, MU improves to 4-0 and will face Richard Stockton in the championship game at 4:00, Saturday afternoon in the Anderson Center. The Defenders fell to 0-4 and will face Stevens in the consolation game at 2:00.