Box Score The Misericordia University men's basketball team nearly overcame a large second half deficit for the second straight game, but came up just short in a 59-58 loss at King's College on Saturday afternoon.
 
Joe Busacca led the Cougar's with 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half. Griffin Sponaugle followed with 13 points while Steve Ware added eight and Erik Kerns had a team-high seven rebounds.
 
The Monarchs held a 17-point lead with 16 minutes left, but just like in its win over Delaware Valley, the Cougars chipped away at that lead for the entire second half.
 
Busacca sparked the MU come back with a long-range jumper to cut the deficit to 14 points with 16 minutes left.
 
Later in the half, Busacca hit a mid-range jumper to cut the Monarch's lead to just nine at 46-37 with 9:43 left.
 
The Monarch's answered with a run of their own, extending its lead to 15.
 
Busacca and the Cougars' offense awoke with six minutes left when the senior guard drilled a three from the corner to again cut the lead to nine points.
 
Bussaca, James Hawk, Jamie Egan and Griffin Sponaugle brought the Cougars to within four with two minutes left, but King's answered with the next bucket to make it a six-point game.
 
Sponaugle connected from beyond the perimeter to cut the lead to three with eight seconds left and John Fazzini couldn't handle the inbounds pass, giving MU the ball with six seconds left.
 
King's opted to foul to avoid a three-point bucket that would tie the game and Busacca knocked down both free throws to cut the lead to 59-58 with five seconds left.
 
The Monarchs then committed on offensive foul before the inbounds, giving MU the opportunity to win it with a basket.
 
However, the comeback came up just short and King's hung on for the 59-58 victory.
 
With the loss, MU fall to17-6 and 9-3 in the Freedom while King's improves to 14-9 and 7-5 in the Freedom.
 
The Cougars return to action Tuesday night at Eastern at 8:00.