THE BASICS
Score: Madonna 79, #7 Cornerstone (72)
Record: MU (18-8, 11-5 WHAC), CU (20-6, 13-3 WHAC)
Location: MU Activities Center - Livonia, Mich.

LIVONIA, Mich. – For the first time since a buzzer-beater victory on Jan. 16, 2016 (79-78), the Madonna University men's basketball team knocked off No. 7 Cornerstone University 79-72 on Monday night in front of a packed crowd.

Dwight Burton and Joshua Reynolds combined for 58 points and the former set a career-high with 13 rebounds to propel the Crusaders to the win. The game boiled down to a three minutes stretch in the second half in which the Crusaders used an 18-4 run to turn a tie at 50 into a 68-54 lead and never looked back.

It was a slow start to the Blue and Gold, who played on Monday due to last week's winter storm, as the Golden Eagles raced out to an early 7-0 lead. A 14-2 MU run, in which Burton tallied six points, put Madonna in front, but the visitors from Grand Rapids closed the half on a 13-4 run to turn a five-point MU lead into a five-point deficit at the break.

The Golden Eagles pushed the lead to seven early in the second half, but Burton and Reynolds combined for an 8-0 run, capped by a Reynolds four-point play that electrified the crowd and gave the Crusaders a 40-39 lead. The teams then traded the lead until the 10:54 mark when Reynolds caught fire and scored 15 points, highlighted by four consecutive 3-pointers, which included another four-point play, to give MU the largest lead of the game, 14 points. Cornerstone kept chipping away and a 6-0 run cut the lead to four, 76-72, with 1:55 to play, but Madonna was able to convert 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch to secure the upset.

TURNING POINT

• An MU 18-4 run to break a 50-50 tie midway through the second half that pushed the lead to 14.

CRUSADER VISION

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

• Burton filled the stat sheet with 29 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, with the latter two matching individual season-bests. Reynolds added 29 points, six rebounds and three assists and Jonathan Swift rebounded from an injury to add 10 points, five rebounds and two steals.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Madonna won on the glass, 42-36, and held Sam Vander Sluis, who averages a double-double, to 16 points and six rebounds
• The Crusaders also defended the three and shot it well from beyond the arc as they limited Cornerstone to 7-of-29 (24.1%) from long range while MU converted 11-of-27 attempts (40.7%)
• The game featured seven lead changes and eight ties

UP NEXT

• Madonna wraps up its regular-season home slate when they return to the court on Wednesday, Feb. 6 against University of Northwestern Ohio at 7:30 p.m.
• Live coverage of the game will be available via the Madonna Athletics Network at www.mucrusaders.com/live.

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