The Moravian College men's basketball team fell to Misericordia University 81-64, Sunday afternoon at Johnston Hall. The Greyhounds were playing without their leading scorer, junior guard D.J. Strayhorn, due to injury. Freshman guard Izel Dickerson filled in for Strayhorn with a career-high 13 points.
Moravian got on the board first with a layup from junior guard Garrett Johnson, but the Cougars would respond with a layup of their own from senior forward Ethan Eichhorst. Misericordia would then jump to a 5-2 lead then 7-4 lead, but a layup from Dickerson would close the gap to just one point with 16:32 left in the first half. The Greyhounds would struggle to get into a rhythm the rest of the half as the Cougars would push their lead to a high of 23 points. Freshman guard Dondre Perry would end the first half with a buzzer beater shot as the Greyhounds would take a 21 point deficit into halftime.
Moravian would regain the momentum in the start of the second half once Johnson nailed a three to bring the Hounds to 45-32 with just under 15 minutes left. A follow-up three from freshman guard Kevin Pankonien would bring Moravian within ten points of the Cougars. Misericordia would answer back by going on a 7-0 run to push its lead to 52-35 with 11 minutes remaining in the game.
The Greyhounds would start chipping away at that lead with free throws from senior forward Jeff Cullinan followed by a layup from Johnson to make the score 54-41. Soon after senior forward Marcus Hardy would lay in an easy basket to make the score 56-45 with 7:39 left in the game. A jumper by Dickerson a minute later would bring the hounds within ten points of the lead with just over six minutes remaining. That would be as close as the Moravian would get as the Cougars 21 points halftime lead was too much to overcome. The Greyhounds would fight the rest of the way but come up short, losing 81-64.
Pankonien would finished with a career-high 13 points while Johnson put up 12 points, five rebounds, four steals and four assists. Hardy brought down 11 rebounds while scoring six points. Cullinan put up eight points and four rebounds while sophomore guard Kenny Gula had five points.
Leading the way for the Cougars was Eichhorst, who recorded a double-double with 16 points and ten rebounds. Senior forward Justin Grotevant had 16 points and five rebounds while senior guard Jeff Slanovec scored 13 points and brought down seven rebounds.
Moravian shot 37.9 percent from the field while Misericordia shot 51 percent from the field. Both teams recorded 38 rebounds each.
The Greyhounds will host Ursinus College tomorrow night, November 28th in non-conference action. The game is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Johnston Hall.