The Misericordia University men's basketball team returned to action with a 75-61 loss to Catholic University in the opening round of the Catholic Basketball Invitational, Saturday at St. Vincent College in Latrobe.

Nate Kreitzer led the Cougars with 15 points and Tony Harding and Jake Bartholomew both added 10 points.  Noah Rivera had a team-high eight rebounds.

Trailing 44-28 at halftime, Harding opened the second half with a layup, but Catholic answered with seven straight points.

The Cougars used a 21-5 run late in the second half to get within 10 points.

Down 66-40, Rivera's layup ignited a 12-0 spurt for the Cougars.  Joseph Baldachino and Bartholomew made back-to-back three-pointers and Sean Gorman's jumper got the Cougars with 66-50 with 6:26 to play.

Bartholomew followed with a pair of free throws and Baldachino hit another three-pointer to cut the deficit to 66-55 with 4:54 to go.

MU got within 71-61 on a layup from Mike Lyons with 1:24 to play.

Catholic scored the game's first bucket, but Rivera used a spin move on the left block to pull the Cougars even and then fed Patrick Douthit on the right side for a 4-2 lead.

Rivera found Diby Kita wide-open on the right block to give MU its last lead, 8-7, with 15:52 to go in the first half.

After falling behind 22-12, Harding's layup pulled the Cougars within 24-20 with 6:28 left in the first half. 

MU shot just 21.4% from three-point range while the Cardinals shot 45.8% from long range.

The Cougars will face Immaculata in the consolation game, Sunday at 1:00.