LIVONIA, Mich. – It may have taken a little longer than they would have liked, but the Madonna University men's basketball team used a large second half run to pull away from East-West University for a 112-86 victory in the second game of the Bernie Holowicki Memorial Classic in front of a raucous crowd inside the MU Activities Center. The Crusaders improve to 2-0 on the year while the Phantoms drop to 0-5.
In the first game of the Classic, No. 2 Indiana University East outlasted Lourdes University 90-85 in double-overtime. Saturday's games feature Lourdes against East-West at 3 p.m. with Madonna and IU-East to follow.
HOW IT HAPPENED
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It was a back and forth first half that featured six ties and four lead changes. The Phantoms outscored the Crusaders 26-12 in the paint and had more bench points, 18-6. The Chicago, Illinois program shot an impressive 61.3 percent from the field (19-of-31) in the opening 20 minutes and kept the Blue and Gold on their toes. Madonna led by as many as eight points twice, but the margin was just two, 48-46, with 1:39 left in the half. Free throws from Mark Mettie and KJ Sayer pushed the lead to five, 51-46, at the break.
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East-West hung around early in the second half and cut the lead to one, 55-54, at the 17:48 mark. That's when the Crusaders took over as they used a 26-7 run over the next eight minutes to take a 20-point, 81-61, lead with 10:09 to play. With the game well in hand, Thomas Simmons put on a highlight show as the senior hit a 3-pointer, had a nifty behind the back assist and threw down a pair of one-handed dunks to put an exclamation point on the win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
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Dwight Burton paced the offense with 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 8-of-9 from the free throw line
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Joshua Reynolds added 18 points, tied Mettie for the team lead with five rebounds and dished out a team-best six assists
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Jonathan Swift added 17 points and five assists while Malik Eichler (13) and Sayer (11) both finished in double figures
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Madonna finished the contest 38-of-64 (59.4%) from the field and 9-of-22 (40.9%) from the 3-point arc while they converted 27-of-36 (75%) free throws. MU tallied 31 rebounds and 13 steals to go with 42 points in the paint, 26 points off turnovers and 37 bench points
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East-West shot 53.8 percent *(35-of-65) from the floor and 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from beyond the arc. The Phantoms collected 31 rebounds and netted 42 points in the paint and 20 points off turnovers
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Madonna improves to 5-0 all-time against East-West, but allowed the most points in the five meetings
UP NEXT
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The Crusaders wrap up play in the Bernie Holowicki Classic against No. 2 IU-East on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 5 p.m.
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Live video and stats will be provided via the Madonna Athletics Network at www.mucrusaders.com/live.
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