Steve Finkernagel

Kendall Hinze closed out the championship game with 21 points and 1,023 points for his career

SECOND HALF SURGE PROPELS MISERICORDIA OVER WILKES 65-46 IN FREEDOM CHAMPIONSHIP

2/25/2012 5:25:00 PM

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SECOND HALF SURGE PROPELS MISERICORDIA OVER WILKES 65-46 IN FREEDOM CHAMPIONSHIP

DALLAS, PA – Misericordia University held Wilkes University to a season-low 46 points on way to its first-ever Freedom Conference Championship posting a 65-46 victory over the visiting Colonels Saturday afternoon at the Anderson Health-Sports Center.

With the loss, Wilkes drops to 17-9 overall. The 17 wins is the most for the program since the 2003-04 season where the Colonels finished 18-9. Wilkes will now wait word for a possible ECAC bid on Monday. Misericordia will await word on its NCAA selection which will be announced on Monday afternoon.

Misericordia jumped out to an early 6-0 lead following three inside scores. The Colonels answered as Jeremy Hartman (Little Egg Harbor, NJ/Pinelands Regional)'s trey gave Wilkes its first lead of the contest, 7-6, with 14:30 on the clock. A Hinze dunk off a nice assist from Hartman put the Colonels up 11-8 just two minutes later. Following a Misericordia miscue, Paul Huch (Tuckerton, NJ/Pinelands Regional) would cash in on two free throws to extend the advantage to 13-8. Wilkes continued to go inside to Hinze and the senior delivered with a jump hook putting him over the 1,000-point plateau giving Wilkes a 15-11 lead with 9:30 remaining in the half.

Another Hinze score, this time a jumper from 18-feet, forced a Cougar timeout with 5:08 left until the break. Wilkes went back to Hinze following the timeout and he connected on a mid-range jumper for his 12th point of the first half. One possession later, Hinze shook loose underneath tipping home a Mullins miss putting Wilkes up 27-24 heading to the break.

Two consecutive three-pointers to open the second half gave Misericordia a 30-27 lead. Hinze flexed his muscle down low cutting the deficit to one on the ensuing possession. A quick 5-0 run open the Cougar lead to six, 35-29, with 17:10 left on the clock. Another deep Misericordia three-pointer followed by a transition layup gave the Cougars their largest lead of the contest, 42-30.

The Cougar offense continued to roll midway through the second half. Ethan Eichhorst converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give Misericordia a 49-33 lead with 11:17 left in the contest. Hinze stopped the Misericordia rally with an inside bucket to cut the lead to 49-36 with 9:26 remaining. Another Eichhorst trey extended the advantage to 57-38 with 5:58 on the clock.

The Misericordia lead would grow to as many as 25 points late in the frame as the Cougars landed the programs first-ever Freedom Championship in the process.

Hinze continued his fine play over the second-half of the season finishing 9-for-10 from the field. Hinze was the lone Colonel to reach double figures with Wilson (7), Huch (5), and Mullins (4) rounding out the scoring.

Misericordia was led Freedom Tournament most valuable player Steve Artzerounian's 18 points and 10 rebounds. Eichhorst followed with 11 points and six rebounds, while Jeff Slanoves added 11 points including three treys.

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