The Misericordia University men's basketball team opened the season with a 76-54 win at Mt. St. Mary College, Wednesday.

Nick Prociak scored a career-high 24 points and Kevin Lazdowsky had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Derek Smith added 11 points.

The Cougars raced out to a 15-0 lead five minutes into the game and led by as many as 26 points late in the first half.  MU maintained a double digit lead over the final 35 minutes.

Prociak scored the first basket of the game 30 seconds in and neither team scored for more than three minutes until Lazdowsky sank a jumper in the lane.

Smith sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around two free throws by Prociak to make it 12-0 and then closed the run with another three-pointer with 14:41 to play in the first half.

Mt. St. Mary scored five straight points, but the Cougars answered with a 7-0 run to take a 22-5 lead.

Todd Robinson, Joe Baldachino and RJ Weise combined for four three-pointers to stretch the lead to 40-16 late in the first half.

The Knights cut the margin to 59-49 with 7:24 remaining, but the Cougars answered with a 17-5 run to close the game.