The Misericordia University men's basketball team used a strong second half performance to propel themselves to an 82-61 victory over King's, Saturday afternoon at the McGrane Gymnasium. MU outscored the Monarchs 48-27 in the second half on its way to the team's third conference victory of the season.
 
Kevin Lazdowsky led the offense with 27 points, five three-pointers and three steals.
 
RJ Weise cashed in on four shots from behind the arc, finishing with 17 points.

Jack Gallagher dropped 16 points and brought down a team-high 11 rebounds for the double-double and added five steals. 
 
King's opened the game with a commanding 9-0 run. The streak was snapped when Gallagher picked up a feed from Lazdowsky and finished the play in the paint with a layup.
 
Arvel Chandler set up Weise with a pass that caught the Monarchs' defense off guard, allowing Weise to nail a jumper on the fast break. On the Cougars' next possession, Dewin Concepcion dished a pass to Chandler, who sank Misericordia's first three-pointer of the afternoon to cut the deficit down to six.
 
King's responded with seven unanswered points to take a 20-7 lead. Lazodwsky stopped the bleeding with a bucket in the paint, drawing a foul in the process. He hit his free throw to finish off the three point play and pull MU within 10.
 
Lazdowsky continued to power the offense with five more consecutive points, however the Cougars still trailed 27-15. From there, Gallagher scored six in a row for Misericordia before Lazdowsky drilled his second and third threes of the game, cutting the Monarchs' lead down to four with 2:26 remaining in the first half. 
 
MU finished the first half with a deep ball and free throw from Weise along with a three point 'and one' play by Derek Smith to pull even with King's. The Cougars exited the floor with the game locked at 34-34.
 
Lazdowsky continued his dominant performance with five points, including an 'and one' play, to open MU's scoring in the early stages of the second half. His efforts gave Misericordia its first lead of the game, 39-36. 
 
The Cougars went on an 8-0 run with threes from Weise and Eli Stoute, expanding their lead to nine. 
 
From there, Misericordia turned on the jets and exploded with a 24-8 run that ran the game clock down to under five minutes. MU was lethal from three-point range during the run as Gallagher and Lazdowsky both got a pair of deep shots to fall while Weise and Smith also knocked down threes. In the span of 6:51, the Cougars shot 9-12 from the field and 6-9 from behind the arc, taking a 71-46 lead.
 
After another three-pointer from Smith, Gallagher picked up a steal that ultimately ended up in the hands of Weise, who cashed in another shot from behind the arc as Misericordia continued to roll on both sides of the court. 
 
Will Anozie got in on the action with yet another deep ball for the Cougars that brought the score to 80-52.