The men's basketball team cruised to its second straight victory with a big second half against FDU-Florham, 82-74, Saturday night at the Anderson Center. The Cougars have won six of their last seven contests since the beginning of the new year.
Jason Kenny had another huge night with 34 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. The senior guard shot an efficient 10-17 from the field, 4-5 from beyond the arc and 10-10 from the charity stripe. The reigning MAC Freedom Player of the Year currently leads the conference with 22.3 points per game.
Tony Harding contributed with 16 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. The junior forward shot 2-4 from three-point range and 2-2 from the free throw line.
Patrick Douthit provided the Cougars with a much-needed lift off the bench. A sophomore point guard, Douthit shot a perfect 3-3 from deep for a season-best nine points. He also added five rebounds and three assists in nearly 27 minutes of action.
Today's contest saw just one lead change. FDU-Florham controlled the pace of play early with a 23-14 run to start the opening 10 minutes. Douthit then began to chip away at the Devils lead with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to cut the team's deficit to three points.
Later in the first half, the Cougars took their first lead when Kenny drained three-pointers on consecutive possessions to give his team a 29-28 advantage with 2:12 remaining before halftime.
Despite losing the first half's turnover battle (10-3), the Cougars were able to pull ahead with stellar three-point shooting. Misericordia shot 7-15 (46.7 percent) from deep while FDU-Florham was only 5-14 (35.7 percent).
Following halftime, the Cougars built on their momentum with a Kenny steal and score to start the second half. Harding then hit a jumper on the team's next possession to put Misericordia up 33-28.
After an Andy Fleurantin three-pointer knotted the game at 35, the Cougars responded with a quick 6-0 run that lasted less than one minute.
Noah Rivera, Kenny and Harding each scored in the paint during the team's rally.
Anthony Mitchell cooled the Cougars' run with a much-needed bucket for FDU, but Douthit answered with his third three-pointer of the game to build Misericordia's lead to seven points with 14:55 remaining.
Halfway through the second, the Cougars began to pull away and distance themselves from the Devils with an 18-7 run.
Kenny started the rally with a layup and Rivera scored four combined points on the next two Misericordia possessions to take a 58-48 lead. Harding then drained a three-pointer on the team's following trip to expand the Cougars' lead to 13 points.
Darren Davy tried to stop the bleeding with an FDU bucket, but Harding hit another three-pointer to build Misericordia's advantage to 14 points.
The Cougars took their biggest lead of the night (18 points) after Kenny sunk two free throws with 2:53 remaining. The Devils were able to cut Misericordia's lead down to single digits with four three-pointers in the final three minutes, but couldn't overcome a strong Misericordia second half.
The Cougars improved to 11-7 overall with a 4-3 MAC Freedom mark while FDU-Florham fell to 4-15 overall and 1-7 in conference play. Misericordia will host DeSales, Monday at 8:00.
