DALLAS (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's basketball team erased a 17-point second half deficit, but could not hold on down the stretch as it fell, 74-64, at Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom foe Misericordia University.

The Aggies dropped their fifth straight game, and first league game of the season, and now sit at 6-8 overall and 2-1 in MAC Freedom play. The Cougars moved to 8-6 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Damian Washington got the game started with a 3-pointer that sparked a 9-0 run for DelVal to start the game.

Later in the half, Jason Kenny hit a trey to pull Misericordia even with the Aggies at 18-18, but Washington responded at the other end with a trey off the glass to make it a three-point game with 7:16 left in the first half.

DelVal maintained its three-point advantage at 24-21 with 5:08 left before the break, but the Cougars went on a 17-5 run to close the half and take a 38-29 lead into the locker room.

Both teams shot well from the field as Misericordia went 51.9-percent from the field and Kenny shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the field with one trey to lead all scorers with 15 points at the half. The Aggies shot 46.2-percent from the field and Washington paced the squad with 11 points including three 3-pointers.

The Cougars remained hot to start the second and connected on its first six field goals of the stanza to go up by as many as 17, 54-37, with 14:26 left in regulation.

DelVal chipped away with a 12-4 run over the next 6:14 to get back within single-digits, 58-49. After Kenny hit a floater in the lane, the Aggies got an old fashioned 3-point play from Alex Matsinye and a traditional trey from Mike Cianciulli to make it a 60-55 game with 7:31 remaining. DelVal had 15 team fouls at this point, compared to nine for Misericordia, and Washington and Lybrant Robinson each had four.

Robinson scored the next four points for the Aggies, but it was a corner three from Cianciulli, after a drive-and-kick by Matsinye, that gave DelVal its first lead of the second half, 63-62, with just over four minutes to play.

Misericordia scored the next eight points, with four coming inside from Noah Rivera, and it finished the game with a 14-3 run to secure the home league victory, 76-66.

The Aggies shot 25-for-62 (40.3%) from the field and 8-for-21 (38.1%) from behind the arc for the game. Cianciulli led the team with 15 points to go with four offensive rebounds, two assists, and two steals while Matsinye and Washington each finished with 11 points. Robinson finished with eight points to go with five boards, three assists, and two steals and Andre' Butler led the team on the glass with nine rebounds while contributing six points and three assists.

Kenny led all scorers with 30 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from behind the arc, and a 10-for-12 effort from the charity stripe. Kenny also recorded four steals and three assists. Tony Harding followed with 13 points and three different players scored eight, including Rivera who led the team with seven rebounds. The Cougars shot 24-for-46 (52.2%) from the field, 6-for-14 (42.9%) from deep, and went 22-for-29 from the free-throw line.

DelVal will look to get back to its winning ways when it hosts DeSales University in another MAC Freedom showdown at 2 p.m. on Saturday.