The Misericordia University men's basketball team dropped a 60-59 heartbreaker to Freedom Conference rival, DeSales University, Saturday afternoon at Bilera Hall.
 
Reigning Freedom Conference Player of the Week, Steve Ware, led the way for the Cougars, scoring 23 points and pulling down four rebounds. Erik Kerns followed with eight points while Jacob Battle added six points and a team-high six boards. Joe Busacca and Jesse Urich added six points each in the loss.
 
Neither team was terrific offensively in the first half, as the Cougars held a 20-18 lead after the first 20 minutes.
 
DeSales opened the second half with a quick layup to tie the game for the sixth time. Brunson answered with a long three to give MU a 23-20 lead just one minute into the half.
 
The Bulldogs tied it right back up with a three of their own.
 
Ware then did the bulk of his damage, scoring three consecutive buckets, including a rim-shattering dunk off of a DeSales turnover to give the Cougars a 29-26 lead with 18 minutes left.
 
The teams traded buckets for the next few minutes before the Cougars caught fire with 14 minutes left.
 
Kerns started MU's big run with a layup, Busacca sliced through three defenders for a layup and Kerns added two more buckets and Ware followed with two of his own. Battle then buried consecutive shots from way beyond the arc to give the Cougars a 10-point lead at 46-33 with 10:39 left left in the game.
 
The Bulldogs refused to go away, as Cody Deal, Aaron Burton and Brian Laird helped cut the DeSales' deficit to 59-57 with just 30 seconds left.
 
Deal then hit the heartbreaking three-point jumper from the top of the key to give the Bulldogs a 60-59 lead with 14 seconds left.
 
DeSales hung on for the victory as MU's buzzer beater attempt clanked the side rim as time expired.
 
Burton led the Bulldogs with 14 points while Deal added 10 points and six boards.
 
With the loss, MU fall to 7-2 and 1-1 in the Freedom Conference. DeSales improves to 6-2 and 1-1 in the conference.
 
MU returns to action at the CSI Tournament of Heroes in Staten Island, NY on December 28-29.