2 weeks Ago By Tom Fox
DALLAS — Willy Chandler had some concerns coming into Monday night. First, the MAC Freedom is unpredictable in men’s basketball. One loss could drop a team from No.
2 in the standings to No. 7. Second, his Misericordia squad came off its biggest win of the season Saturday over No.
1 Stevens, but only had 48 hours to prepare for a pesky opponent in Lebanon Valley College. When the Flying Dutchman cut the Cougars’ lead to two with four minutes left to play at the Anderson Center, those anxious moments amped up a little more. Matthew Prociak made sure to calm the nerves.
The Holy Redeemer graduate made back-to-back layups to spur an 8-0 run in a three-minute span to ice the victory as Misericordia knocked off Lebanon Valley, 84-78, in men’s basketball. Misericordia finished off the season sweep of the Flying Dutchman to take a one-game lead for the second spot in the standings. In the setback, LVC senior and Tunkhannock graduate Ryan Harder scored his 1,000th career point as he finished with a game-high 27 points — 20 of those coming in the second half.
“Every game is a playoff game, and right now, it’s our defense that’s carrying us,” said Prociak, who finished with a team-high 19 points. “We have a lot to look forward to against a tough Arcadia team on Wednesday. Just like tonight, that game is going to come down to defensive rebounding.
” For Misericordia (13-8, 6-4 MAC), Monday’s win keeps the Cougars sitting in the No. 2 spot with four games remaining in the regular season. But don’t misread that second spot because nothing is certain in the league.
The Cougars are two games behind Stevens for that first spot, and are ahead of four teams by one game. Meaning, every one of those four remaining MAC Freedom games are playoff-type situations. Add to it that two of the games — at Arcadia and home with DeSales — are two of the Cougars’ four league losses.
“We got hurt early in the year because we didn’t protect our home court,” Chandler said. “We lost to Delaware Valley the first game of the year here, and we also lost to Arcadia, and that hurts. You have to defend your home court in the league, and starting 0-2, I wasn’t nervous because I knew the group we had in the locker room.
But it made us work harder, and our backs were against the wall. We’ve won six of our last eight now. I don’t know if we can catch that No.
1 seed, but our goal is to stay in the two spot and host a game here. It’s been a while since we hosted a playoff game here.” Every time Lebanon Valley made a run to cut into Misericordia’s early lead, the Cougars had an answer.
Tied at 23 with six minutes left in the opening half, it was a Prociak layup and short-range jumper, in addition to two Miseri free throws, that created a small cushion. When the Flying Dutchman trimmed it back to five early in the second half, it was back-to-back 3-pointers that Arvel Chandler buried that pushed the lead back to nearly double digits. But when Lebanon Valley (10-11, 5-5 MAC) found itself down two, 72-70, with just four minutes left, it was the Cougars’ stout defense that held the Flying Dutchman scoreless in a key three-minute stretch.
“The defense is what we’ve been consistent in all year,” Willy Chandler said. “You are used to seeing my teams score and put up some big points, but we are like sixth in the league in scoring. But we are No.
2 in the league when it comes to defense. Today was a rare game to give up that many points. But the defense has been carrying us.
Luckily, we scored tonight and made some shots.” Misericordia placed five players in double figures as Kevin Lazdowsky joined Prociak with 19 points. Jack Gallagher missed a double-double by one rebound — finishing with 14 points and nine boards — and Arvel Chandler also dropped 14.
RJ Weise was the fifth Cougar to hit double digits with 12. Harder and Evin Timochenko combined for 51 of Lebanon Valley’s 78 points. “Our coaching staff did a great job of getting us ready for this tough stretch we are in.
They know how to make sure we are healthy and getting our treatments in the training room,” Prociak said. “Our trainer staff does a great job of making sure we are doing the right things. That’s going to be so huge as we enter a key part of our year.
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