THE BASICS
Score: Madonna 89, UM-Dearborn 74
Record: MU (12-6, 5-3 WHAC), UM-Dearborn (4-13, 2-6 WHAC)
Location: MU Activities Center (Livonia, Mich.)

LIVONIA, Mich.– As has been the case far too often this season, the Madonna University men's basketball team fell behind early, a 20-point deficit, but nearly erased the hole by halftime and strong second half defense propelled the Crusaders to an 89-74 win over the University of Michigan-Dearborn on Wednesday night.

Things started well for MU as Mark Mettie converted a layup on the game's first possession and Dwight Burton drilled a 3-pointer for an early 5-1 advantage, but then the Wolverines got hot. The visitors from Dearborn scored 22 unanswered points and 26-of-28 to take a 27-7 lead, largely on the back of Cody Kegley who scored 17 points and assisted on four more in the games first seven minutes.

The Crusaders never panicked and slowly fought their way back. MU outscored the Wolverines 41-23 over the final 12:53 of the half and trailed 50-48 on a buzzer beater 3-pointer going into the half. Madonna used solid defense to win the second half, 41-24, as the held the Wolverines, who shot better than 52 percent in the first half to a 20 percent mark in the second.

TURNING POINT

• The key run came with 5:49 left as Ryan McMullen converted a free throw that spark MU to a 10-0 run that turned a 71-70 game into an 81-80 score and MU never looked back.

CRUSADER VISION

NOEL'S NOTIONS

• "The key tonight was remembering it's a 40 minute game. As fast as they went up 20 is as fast as we erased the lead. Not a position we want to be in, but proud of how we responded."
• On Ryan McMullen - "Ryan played really hard, blocked out, rebounded and executed the offensive sets from his spot on the floor. He did his job and gave us a huge boost and we went on a run. We tell the guys if you come in and we go on a run you will get more minutes so he earned that tonight."
• On Malik Eichler  - "Tonight was the night I felt he looked most comfortable, especially on the offensive end. He's stealing points with some of his tip-ins and we are just encouraging him to continue to be aggressive at both ends of the floor."
• On Dwight Burton - "Dwight put all of his effort into defense in the second half, we asked him to do that and when he does we are so much better. I know most nights we rely on him to score but I felt tonight he played great defense, especially in the second half."
• On Joshua Reynolds - "Josh really shouldered the load a lot offensively with other guys under the weather. We are fortunate that we have guys that can step up and proud of our guys stepping up and doing things they aren't normally asked to do."

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

• Reynolds netted a team-high 21 points while Jonathan Swift added 18 points and five rebounds off the bench. Burton finished with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists and Eichler netted 13 points to go with seven boards and three blocks. McMullen finished with five points, three boards and three assists while Clarke Lamb snagged seven boards.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Madonna held the Wolverines to 37.9 percent (25-of-66) shooting in the contest after UM-Dearborn finished 19-of-36 in the first half.
• Madonna won in the paint (34-22) and in second chance points (12-9).
• The Crusaders shot 51.7 percent (31-of-60) in the contest and went 10-of-24 (41.7%) from long range.
• The Blue and Gold also won on the glass as they outrebounded the Wolverines 45-30.

UP NEXT

• The Crusaders hit the road for their next two contests as they travel to Ann Arbor to face Concordia University - Ann Arbor on Saturday, Jan. 5 at 1 p.m. before visiting University of Northwestern Ohio on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 5:30 p.m.
• Live coverage links, if available, will be posted at www.mucrusaders.com.

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