DALLAS, Pa. – Lebanon Valley junior Ryan Harder scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the men's basketball in a hard-fought 76-66 defeat at Misericordia University on Wednesday evening in Dallas.
 
Harder, a native of nearby Tunkhannock, scored LVC's first six points of the game. On the other end of the court, the reigning MAC Freedom Player of the Week, Kevin Lazdowski, was just as hot as Harder, knocking down a layup and two threes as Misericordia took an 11-6 lead in the first five minutes of action. The teams traded free throws before Harder hit a three-pointer with 12:38 on the clock to cut the advantage to 13-11.
 
The Cougars responded with a 7-2 run over the next three minutes to go up by seven. Tyson Hofsass stopped the run with a three off a MU turnover as Braden Bohannon drew a charge. The teams traded scores until Hofsass and Harder hit back-to-back jumpers. Karson Pavlik continued the run with a jumper and then Harder gave the Dutchmen a 26-24 lead with just under three minutes to go. Misericordia ended the half strong with a 10-2 run to go into halftime with a 34-28 advantage.
 
The Cougars scored first in the second half and Harder knocked down two free throws and a jumper to make it a seven-point game with 17:30 remaining. Misericordia knocked down a three and then got a jumper in the paint to go up 44-32 with 16:44 left forcing LVC to call a timeout. Misericordia used a pair of threes in between scores by the Dutchmen to take a 50-35 lead. Hofsass found Luis Garcia for a layup and then scored on his own layup to cut it down to 11 with 14 minutes to go. The teams traded made shots at the line before Misericordia used a couple of made threes to take their biggest lead of the game at 16 points with 8:11 on the clock.
 
The lead was still 16 with 6:23 left when LVC used a 9-2 run to get within single digits at 69-60 with two minutes to go. Pavlik hit the front end of two free throw attempts, Kyle Tang scored in transition, and then knocked down a pair of free throws. After a Cougar bucket with 2:32 left, Wil Laskowski hit a pair of free throws and then Garcia scored on a fastbreak off an assist by Tang. LVC was able to get the lead down to seven on a Bohannon layup with 1:10 left but MU closed out the game at the line to stay unbeaten in conference play.
 
Inside the Box

• Harder scored in double figures for his 11th consecutive game while shooting a season-high 61.5 percent from the field. His eight defensive rebounds are a season high.
• Hofsass scored a career-high 11 points in 20 minutes. He was 4-6 from the field including 1-2 from deep and 2-2 at the line.
• Tang had eight points and six rebounds with two assists.
• Garcia also had eight points while Bohannon had seven points and six rebounds.
• The Dutchmen shot a season-high 83.3 percent at the line making 20 of 24 free throw attempts.
• LVC had a season-best six turnovers.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will be back on the road against another top conference team this Saturday with a 3 p.m. game at DeSales University. The Bulldogs and Cougars are the lone undefeated teams in the conference at 3-0.

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