The Misericordia University men's basketball team used a late 18-0 run to pull away for an 85-65 win at Eastern in the MAC Freedom semifinals, Wednesday.

Tony Harding had 22 points to lead five MU players in double figures.  Griffin Sponaugle added 16 points, including the 1,000^th of his career and Tre Fields had 13.  Jason Kenny and Noah Rivera both scored 11 for the Cougars who will face the Delaware Valley/DeSales winner in Saturday's title game.

The Del Val/DeSales semifinal was postponed to Thursday due to a power outage at Delaware Valley.

After dropping both regular season meetings to Eastern, the Cougars won their fifth straight game to improve to 19-7.

Harding hit a three-pointer to put the Cougars ahead for good, 52-49, with 12:34 left in the second half.  Eastern answered with a bucket, but Harding drilled another three to start a 7-0 MU spurt for a 59-51 lead with 10:02 to play.

Harding buried another three-pointer and Rivera's layup made it 64-57 with 7:09 remaining.

Eastern made it 64-59 with a pair of free throws, but the Cougars scored 18 unanswered points over the next four minutes to take an 82-59 lead with 2:20 to go.

Sponaugle and Kenny both connected from long range before a short jumper from Rivera made it 72-59.

Kenny followed with a layup and Alec Rodway sank a pair of free throws.

Fields and Kenny combined for three layups over the next two minutes to cap the run.

Mike Brunson closed the scoring for MU with a three-pointer in the final minute.

The teams traded baskets over the first eight minutes before a three-pointer from Fields and a Harding layup gave the Cougars a 20-13 lead with 12:02 left in the first half.

Sponaugle nailed a three-pointer to reach the 1,000-point mark and put MU up, 23-16, and added back-to-back threes to stretch the lead to 31-22 with 7:03 to go in the half.

Eastern got a three-pointer to close the first half with MU ahead, 41-35.

The Eagles opened the second half with an 8-0 run to take a 43-41 lead.

Harding tied it with a layup with 16:33 to go and his three-pointer put MU in front, 48-47, with 14:46 remaining.

After an Eastern bucket, Fields tied it with a free throw before Harding's go-ahead three-pointer with 12:34 left.

Harding's sixth three of the game gave the Cougars a 62-54 lead with 8:38 to play and Rivera's layup made it 64-57.

After Eastern cut it to 64-59 with a pair of free throws, the Cougars responded with their game-clinching run.