LIVONIA, Mich. – The Madonna University men's basketball team put an exclamation point on what has been an up-and-down first semester in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play as they used a huge second half to upend 16th-ranked Indiana Tech 82-73 at the MU Activities Center on Saturday afternoon.

The win, arguably the biggest to date for the Crusaders, pushes the overall record to 9-4 with a 4-3 league mark while the Warriors fall to 9-5 on the year and 6-1 in the WHAC. Madonna snapped what was an eight-game win streak for the visitors.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Crusaders scored the first points on a Mark Mettie layup, but the Warriors then asserted themselves and led for the final 18:38 of the half. Tech led by as many as nine points in the opening 20 minutes, but the Blue and Gold battled hard and back three straight baskets from Joshua Reynolds, Dwight Burton and Jonathan Swift cut the deficit to one, 30-29, with 2:28 left in the half. A 5-2 Warriors run gave the Fort Wayne program the 35-31 lead at the break.
• Madonna opened the second half on a 9-2 run, Burton scored 7-of-9 points, to take their first lead, 40-37, since the 19:43 mark of the first half. After the teams traded 3-pointers and the Warriors went back ahead with a 5-0 run, the Crusaders used a 10-0 run of their own to go up eight, 59-51, with 7:32 to play. Malik Eichler threw down an emphatic dunk to take the lead and a Burton trey was followed by a pair of buckets by Swift and Reynolds. Indiana Tech kept coming and cut the lead to three, 63-60, but Reynolds and Burton then took over as the duo combined for the final 19 MU points, led by Burton's 11 which included an 8-for-8 trip to the free throw line over the final 31 seconds to seal the win.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Burton finished with 29 points which included a 3-for-6 night from beyond the 3-point arc and four assists
• Reynolds tallied 21 points and five rebounds while Swift added 14 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the year, he also collected four steals
• Eichler added eight points while Mettie scored six to go with eight rebounds
• Madonna dominated the paint in the second half, 18-4, and outscored Indiana Tech 34-20 inside on the night
• The Crusaders also netted 20 points off 15 Tech turnovers while MU's 11 miscues turned in to just eight points for the Warriors
• Madonna finished 29-of-66 (43.9%) from the field, 8-of-18 (44.4%) from beyond the arc and 16-of-20 (80%) from the free throw stripe while the Warriors shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) on the night and made 10 three's and 13 free throws.

CRUSADER VISION - THEY SAID WHAT?


UP NEXT

• With classes over for the semester, the Crusaders venture into non-conference action with a trip to Midland to face NCAA II Northwood University on Monday, Dec. 17 at 3 p.m.
• Live coverage links will be available at www.mucrusaders.com/live.

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