The Misericordia University men's basketball team used a dominating effort in the second half to overcome a sluggish first half and capture a 71-61 victory on Tuesday night at Albright. 

Steve Ware was terrific for the Cougars, pouring in a season-high 25 points, 20 of which came in the second half, and seven rebounds. Joe Busacca added 16 more points while Griffin Sponaugle added 11 and James Hawk had nine points in the victory. 

The Cougars got out to a slow start, leading to a 32-25 deficit at the half. However, MU was a much different team in the second half, outscoring the Lions 46-29.

Hawk opened the second half with a layup off of a stellar feed from Ware. He then added two more consecutive buckets to cut the Lions lead to just three at 34-31 early in the second. 

Albright fought back to extend their lead to five, but Busacca and Ware both added layups to cut the Lions lead to just one at 36-35.

Ware continued to takeover, spinning off his defender and finishing at the basket to take advantage of an Albright turnover ouf of a time out and give MU its first lead of the game at 37-36 with just over 15 minutes left to play. 

Albright continued to turn the ball over and MU continued to take advantage by finishing at the basket.

The Lions answered back later in the half to take an eight-point lead on a three-point play with just over 13 minutes left in the game.

MU head coach Trevor Woodruff then called a timeout and it was all Cougars the rest of the way. 

Ware added another three point play, Urich connected from beyond the arc and Erik Kerns took a charge to cut the Lions lead to four. 

Just minutes later Ware drove the lane off of a turnover to tie the game at 55-55 with 7:47 left. 

MU really picked it up defensively, forcing some bad Albright shots and turnovers. Kerns and Ware both added blocks as well. 

Ware, Kerns, and Busacca got hot from the field to give MU it's largest lead of the night at 68-57 with just over four minutes left to play.

Busacca was terrific down the stretch, nailing two free-throws and adding a layup while Ware put the game out of reach by backing down his defender and earning a three-point play with just under two minutes left. 

MU closed out the game on a big run and emerged with the 71-61 road victory.

With the win the Cougars improve to 5-1 while the Lions fall to 3-2. 

MU is back in action Sunday afternoon, as they host York College in the Anderson Center at 1:00.