Tournament Most Valuable Player Tony Harding scored 25 points and grabbed six rebounds Feb. 24 when the Misericordia University men’s basketball team earned its second straight Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom championship and a return trip to the NCAA Division III tournament by going on the road to defeat DeSales University, 74-59.
Misericordia became the first team to win four MAC Freedom titles.
Stone McCreary hit five of his seven 3-pointers while adding 17 points.
Jason Kenny, who was earlier named MAC Freedom Player of the Year, added 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
The first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament are scheduled for Friday and Saturday with Misericordia heading to Ohio for the opening weekend.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Misericordia (16-10) lost in the MAC Freedom semifinals but, for the second consecutive season, landed the consolation prize of being selected to participate in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships.
The ECAC conducts championships in 16 sports for the top eastern colleges that fall short of making it to the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournaments.
WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Clare Schoen was named Middle Atlantic Conference Indoor Track Athlete of the Year and Chris Wadas was named Coach of the Year after Misericordia won its third MAC championship in four years Feb. 23-24 at Lehigh University.
Schoen won the 5000-meter run title (18:11.12) on the first day, then won the mile (5:04.02) and finished second at 3000 meters the second day.
Reilly Wagner won the long jump and high jump, took third in the 60-meter hurdles, was fourth in the 200-meter hurdles and led off the winning 800-meter relay team.
Elsewhere, Carolina Banas, a Holy Redeemer graduate from Dallas, set multiple records in her sophomore season as a University of Scranton high jumper.
The latest Banas record came Feb. 24 when she cleared 5-5 ¾ to set a meet record while winning the Landmark Conference Indoor Championships at Susquehanna University.
Banas has the fifth-highest high jump in the nation in Division III this season at 5-7 ¼.
