The Misericordia men's basketball team defeated Rutgers-Camden, 98-71, at the Scotty Wood Tournament at Muhlenberg College, Friday afternoon for their first win of the season. Stone McCreary set a new career high with 26 points. Jason Kenny added 19 points and five assists, while Tre Fields and Noah Rivera each had double-doubles.

The Cougars made 15 three pointers in the game, including eight by McCreary, which is a new individual tournament record. They outrebounded the Scarlet Raiders 52-29, including 17-4 on the offensive glass.

Rutgers jumped out to a 5-3 lead, but that was the last time they had the lead in the game. The Cougars went on a 7-0 run, culminated by a Fields three after a steal by Kenny.

Rutgers came back with five straight points of their own, but three straight three pointers, two by McCreary and one by Kenny, gave the Cougars a nine-point lead with 13:12 left in the half.

The Cougars continued to build their lead thanks to great rebounding. The Misericordia defense held Rutgers to only one shot on every possession, while the Cougars grabbed seven offensive rebounds, including two by Bailey Brugler on one possession, to build their lead to 37-24 with 4:07 left.

At the half, MU held a 45-35 lead. The Cougars pulled down nine offensive rebounds leading to 11 second chance points, while not giving up any in the first half. Misericordia also had 13 points off turnovers.

Coming out of the break, the Cougars extended their lead to 65-44 thanks to more offensive rebounding. They had five second-chance points on four offensive rebounds early in the half to take over the game. Misericordia also took advantage from the foul line, going 8-8 during the run.

Rutgers got it back to within 15, but that was as close as it would get the rest of the way. Two threes by McCreary on back-to-back possessions with 4:57 left gave the Cougars a 19-point lead and put the game on ice.

The Cougars will play tomorrow in the championship game against the winner of Muhlenberg and SUNY New Paltz.