The Misericordia University men's basketball team raced out to a big first-half lead and never looked back in an 82-72 win over King's, Wednesday night on Doc Mould Court.

Elijah Rosenthal four Cougars in double figures with 22 points, including six three-pointers.  Derek Smith and Nick Hornung had 12 points each and Kevin Lazdowsky had 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

The Cougars shot 57.1% from the floor in the first half, including 9-18 from three-point range as they built a 55-25 lead at intermission.

Rosenthal opened the scoring with a fade-away jumper from the left baseline and King's answered to tie the score the only time.

Kreitzer drilled back-to-back three-pointers from the same spot deep on the right wing for an 8-4 lead less than three minutes into the game.

Lazdowsky's putback and Smith's three-pointer from the left wing made it 13-4 with less than five minutes gone.

Hornung scored six points and Rosenthal nailed a three-pointer from the left wing as part of a 10-0 run to put the Cougars up 23-6 with 11:25 to go in the first half.

After a Monarchs' basket, Hornung found Matt Marchetti cutting down the lane for a dunk and a 25-8 lead.

Marchetti added a pair of three-pointers and Hornung put back his own miss for a 35-10 lead with 7:05 to go.

Smith made three free throws and then found Lazdowsky for a short jumper to close out the first half with the Cougars up, 55-25.

MU led by as many as 33 points in the second half and the 10-point final margin as close as the Monarchs got since the 13:41 mark of the first half.

Misericordia will host DeSales, Saturday.