Sharp shooting by senior Jon Schreer and a stifling defensive effort sent the Muhlenberg men's basketball team into the Scotty Wood Tournament championship game.

The Mules defeated Merchant Marine, 69-47, to reach the final for the 31st time in the 35 years of the tournament. They will face Wilkes, a 96-68 winner against Keystone in the other first-round game.

Schreer scored a career-high 25 points on the strength of 7-of-11 shooting from three-point range. The seven threes were one short of the school record and jumped the co-captain into fifth place on the program's all-time list with 139 for his career.

Schreer hit his first four attempts from long range in the opening 4:16 of the game to give Muhlenberg (2-0) a 12-0 lead. The Mariners (0-1) didn't catch up to Schreer's point total until midway through the first half, during a 10-0 run that gave them their only lead at 20-18 with 4:45 left in the half.

The Mules did not allow a field goal for the rest of the half, closing on an 11-2 run to take a seven-point lead into the locker room. For the game, the Muhlenberg defense held Merchant Marine to 28.3-percent shooting and forced 25 turnovers.

The Mariners were within seven early in the second half before the Mules went on a 12-0 run, which featured another Schreer three, to extend their lead to 19. Senior Brandon LaRose sparked the run with a sweet pass to junior JeanLee Baez for a layup, followed by his own layup and three-point play after a steal seconds later.

LaRose (pictured above) finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and tied a career high with six assists. Freshman Matt Gnias had an impressive second game of his career, scoring eight points on perfect 3-of-3 shooting and notching a pair of steals. Baez also was perfect (4-for-4) from the field and finished with nine points. Muhlenberg shot 54.5 percent for the game.

Senior John Hunter recorded five points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.