A scoring drought in the middle of the game proved costly as the Misericordia University men's basketball team fell to Alvernia, 78-64, Saturday afternoon at the Anderson Center.
 
The Cougars led 29-24 with 5:32 left in the first half, but Alvernia closed the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 34-29 half halftime lead.
 
The Golden Wolves opened the second half on a 12-2 run to take a 46-31 lead less than four minutes to go into the second half.
 
Matt Prociak led the Cougars with 17 points and Kevin Lazdowsky added 15.
 
After Alvernia opened the scoring, Eli Stout scored on back-to-back driving layups to give MU an early 4-2 lead and the Cougars maintained the lead throughout most of the first half.
 
R.J. Weise used a spin move to hit a jumper in the lane and give MU an 11-8 lead with 13:13 to play in the first half.
 
Lazdowsky hit a pull-up jumper in the lane to break a 12-12 tie with 10:58 to go and Will Anozie drained back-to-back three-pointers from the right win to make it 20-14 with under 10 minutes remaining.
 
Arvel Chandler's three-pointer gave MU its biggest lead of the day, 23-16, with 9:16 left.
 
Jack Gallagher's layup made it 29-24 with 5:32 to go before halftime, but Alvernia scored 10 straight points to take a 34-29 lead.
 
Prociak scored on a spin move to open the second half, but the Golden Wolves scored 12 straight points to take a 46-31 lead and maintained a double digit lead the rest of the way.