The Misericordia University men's basketball team fell to host, College of Staten Island, in the opening round of the 2014 CSI Tournament of Heroes by a score of 66-58, Sunday afternoon in Staten Island, NY.

James Hawk led the Cougars with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Joe Busacca followed for the Cougars with 11 points and four assists while Griffin Sponaugle added 10 points and seven boards. 

The  Cougars dominated the first four minutes of the game, jumping out to an 11-0 lead on buckets from Hawk, Ware and Sponaugle. The Dolphins called a timeout and then took over, going on a 14-0 run to take a 14-11 lead over the next five minutes.

The lead would change six more times in the half as neither team went on a big run in the final 12 minutes. Will Fonseca and Frank Schettino added two buckets at the end of the half to give the Dolphins a 34-30 lead at the half.

Ware opened the second half with a free throw and then lobbed a pass over a defender to find a wide open Hawk on the baseline for an easy bucket, cutting the Dolphins' lead to just one at 34-33 with 16 minutes left. 

The Cougars would come within one point one more time in the game when Ware had a one-handed slam and Kerns added a three-point play to make it a 48-47 game with just 10 minutes left. 

However, the Dolphins closed the game on an 18-10 run led by Schettino and Fonseca to capture the victory in the opening game. 

Schettino and Fonseca finished with 22 points each to pace the Dolphins.

With the loss MU falls to 7-3 while CSI improves to 5-3. The Cougars will play Penn State Behrend tomorrow night at 5:30 in the consolation game of the CSI Tournament of Heroes.