BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Misericordia University prepared for a season of high expectations in men’s basketball by taking on a big challenge in the opening week of the season.
The Cougars hit the road Monday night to face a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I opponent before settling in Wednesday to begin the process of trying to return to the Division III national tournament.
“Overall, it was a great experience,” Misericordia coach Will Chandler said after the Cougars kept the game competitive throughout the first half before ultimately falling to the host Bearcats, 107-64. “This is my first senior class. I wanted to get this senior class a chance to play Division I and (Binghamton coach Tommy) Dempsey gave us that chance.
“We’re thankful for it and hopefully we’ll keep it going and come up here every year and play. It’s great for the guys. They loved it.”
Misericordia has been selected by opposing coaches as the preseason favorite to win its third straight Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom title.
The Cougars technically opened the season Wednesday at home by beating the College of Staten Island, 68-64, in a meeting of returning national tournament teams from a year ago.
The NCAA allows one team to count the contest as an official game while the other records it as an “exhibition.” Binghamton got its first win while Misericordia was using the game as an exhibition.
Misericordia stayed within 54-41 at halftime, then tested many players throughout the second half. The Cougars wound up using 18 players for at least four minutes.
“My idea coming up here was I wanted everyone to play,” Chandler said.
Misericordia scored the game’s first points on a 3-pointer by returning MAC Freedom Player of the Year Jason Kenny, was tied for the last time at 11-11 and was within a point at 17-16 after more than six minutes.
“They played really well early,” Dempsey said.
Stone McCreary came off the bench to lead Misericordia with nine points and six rebounds. Kenny and Justin Iton added eight points each.
Kenny became the school’s third-leading scorer during Wednesday’s win over Staten Island. He finished with 23 points, giving him 1,567 for his career, and also grabbed nine rebounds while making four steals.
Foster Clark had 13 points and 15 rebounds, Noah Rivera 10 points and 10 rebounds and Tony Harding 11 points and six rebounds as part of a 54-39 rebounding advantage.
Misericordia opened the season without returning starting point guard Alec Rodway, who has a broken hand. That forced Kenny to play point guard for now.
Harding was the Most Valuable Player of the MAC Freedom Championships where the 6-5 junior forward had 40 points and 12 rebounds in wins over top-seeded Wilkes and DeSales to reach the national tournament.
Rivera and McCreary ranked among Freedom leaders in rebounding and 3-point shooting respectively.
