Box Score The Misericordia University men's basketball team raced out to a quick lead and never looked back as the Cougars claimed the Freedom Conference title with a 77-66 win over Delaware Valley, Saturday afternoon in the Anderson Center.

Joe Busacca scored a career-high 29 points to garner Tournament MVP honors and Steve Ware added a double-double with 14 rebounds and 10 points as the Cougars tied a school record for wins in a season at 21-6.

Erik Kerns added 12 rebounds for MU and James Hawk had eight points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots.

Jesse Urich was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line down the stretch.

The Cougars built a 40-29 halftime lead and the Aggies never got closer than nine points in the second half.

Ware converted a three-point play to open the scoring a minute into the game and Busacca's runner gave the Cougars a 5-2 lead.

Hawk's putback made it 11-4 and Busacca drained a three-pointer from the right wing for a 14-4 lead just over four minutes in.

The Aggies got within four points midway through the first half, but they never got any closer as the Cougars answered with an11-3 run to go up, 31-19.

Jamie Egan drained a three-pointer from the right corner to stretch the lead to 34-21 with 5:19 to go in the first half.

Griffin Sponaugle added two free throws and then found Kerns underneath to close out the first half scoring for the Cougars.

The Aggies cut the margin to nine points four times in the second half with the last coming with 11:53 to go.

MU answered with a 6-1 spurt and they maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Urich found Kerns underneath for an easy layup Ware made short jumper in the lane for a 54-41 lead with 10:01 remaining.

After a Del Val free throw, Ware sank another jumper in the lane to make it 56-42.

The Cougars converted 16 free throws over the final 2:49 to secure the win and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four seasons.