Misericordia falls to Delaware Valley

The second half wasn�t kind to Misericordia in a pair of regular-season losses to Delaware Valley.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, it carried over to the playoffs.

Misericordia struggled as Wednesday�s Freedom Conference semifinal wound down, falling to Delaware Valley for a third time on the season with a 65-49 loss.

The Cougars, who won the conference title a year ago, fell to 13-13 and will wait to hear about a possible ECAC tournament berth to extend their season.

They trailed just 30-28 at halftime on Wednesday and briefly took the lead out of the break at 34-32.

But the Aggies began pulling away in the final 10 minutes to end the Cougars� hopes at a second straight trip to the NCAA tournament. Delaware Valley (18-8) advanced to play at DeSales on Saturday for the conference title.

Steve Ware turned in a double-double to lead Misericordia with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Justin Grotevant was the only other player in double-figures with 12 points.

�We took a pretty good punch from them and were able to battle back,� Cougars coach Trevor Woodruff said in a school release. �We told the guys to keep fighting and grinding at halftime, and they did that. But unfortunately we didn�t get the result we�d hoped for.�

: Sean Bieski 2-4 1-2 5, Jesse Urich 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Greene 1-6 0-0 3, Steve Ware 8-15 3-5 19, Justin Grotevant 5-12 2-2 12, Joe Busacca 1-7 2-4 4, Trever Reed 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Samanns 0-0 0-0 0, Anthony Sergio 1-6 2-2 5, Patrick Widdoss 0-0 0-0 0, Frank Vito 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Stanovick 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon Stone 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Yaich 0-0 0-0 0, Cael Evans 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 18-54 11-17 49.

: Jeremy Beckett 7-14 6-9 20, Daulton Derr 9-19 0-0 19, Francis Arnold 5-16 0-0 13, Zach Sly 2-5 3-4 7, Nick Sullivan 1-3 0-0 2, Zach Sibel 1-2 0-0 2, Chris Moran 1-5 0-0 2, Jay Donovan 0-6 0-0 0, Adonis Fleming 0-0 0-0 0, Quincy Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-70 9-13 65.

� Delaware Valley, 30-28

� MU 2-12 (Greene 1-5, Sergio 1-5, Stanovick 0-1, Grotevant 0-1); DVC 4-18 (Arnold 3-7, Derr 1-5, Sullivan 0-1, Donovan 0-5)