The Misericordia University men's basketball team couldn't overcome a sluggish start as they fell to Wilkes, 69-54, Wednesday at the Anderson Center.

Justin Iton led the Cougars in scoring for the second straight contest with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The senior forward shot 8-10 from the field on the road to his first double-double of the season.

Alec Rodway and Jason Kenny were second on the team with eight points.

After falling behind 21 points with 7:49 remaining in the game, the combination of Ryan Coyle, Tyerell Mann, Brendan Leonard and Sean Gorman provided a key spark for the Cougars off the bench.

Following a Misericordia timeout, Coyle drove to the lane and found an open Mann, who sunk a corner three ball. After forcing a Wilkes turnover, Coyle connected with Gorman on a beautiful post feed for an easy two. Gorman then scored once more off a no-look pass from Leonard to cut the team's deficit to 14 points.

After the Colonels put an end to the Cougars 7-0 rally with a couple free throws, Leonard answered back with a three-pointer at the other end. Moments later, Gorman took a charge to force a Wilkes turnover and Mann answered with a free throw to pull within 12 points.

The Cougars came within 11 points of the Colonels when Mann knocked down a three-pointer, courtesy of Coyle, with two minutes remaining. However, Wilkes was able to put together a 4-0 run to fight off Misericordia's late surge.

Mann and Leonard both led the Cougars' bench with six points while Gorman added four points and Coyle collected three assists.

In the first half, Iton and Rodway combined for Misericordia's first 12 points. The senior point guard opened the game with a three-pointer from the top of the key off a feed from Iton. Moments later, Rodway returned the favor when he found the big man down-low for two points.

Trailing by three points, Rodway earned three shots at the charity stripe and knocked them down to knot the game at 8-8. After a Colonels' bucket, Iton answered with a baby hook in the paint to tie the game once more.

The Cougars took their second lead of the game when Tony Harding found Iton for a quick two points with 10:34 remaining. However, Wilkes began to distance themselves from the Cougars with a 16-6 run to close out the first stanza.

Misericordia shot 31.7 percent and just 18.5 percent from beyond the arc while Wilkes tallied 43.9 percent from the field.

The Cougars fell to 12-10 overall with a 5-6 MAC Freedom mark. Misericordia will travel to DeSales on Saturday in a key conference matchup.