LIVONIA, Mich.-- Last night, Madonna University Men's Basketball fell just short in their comeback against Aquinas College (Mich.) inside the Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena 82-81 for the first Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) loss of the season. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jalen Miller's follow through put Madonna on the board a few short minutes into the game. As Jordan Graham, Brendan Young, and Ryan Nunn continued to light up the scoreboard for Madonna, the Saints seemed to find an answer after every Crusaders bucket. 

Coming out of halftime, Madonna stared at a nine-point deficit at 39-30 as Miller once again got things rolling before Aquinas continued to pound the basket to go up by as many as 13 points early in the second half. Devin Dunn, with a few assists from Ethan Emerzian, would claw back to a tie ballgame just under ten minutes remaining.

Emerzian's three pointer put the Crusaders up for the first time all game as both teams started to go shot for shot with each other over the course of the latter part of the half. Under two minutes left, the Saints sat above with a seven point lead with Matthew MacLellan at the free throw line, draining both of his promised shots. 

Down by four, Aquinas' shooter missed a one-and-one as the ball landed in the hands of Levente Molnar as the Crusaders ran the floor. Emerzian missed a shot beyond the arc with the Crusaders taking over, giving the ball into Nunn's hands.

With time winding down, a mad dash by the Crusaders proved not enough as Nunn sank a three-pointer at the buzzer to bring the lead down by one with the sound of the net reverberating through the quiet arena. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Dunn took over the scoring column for Madonna with 24 points, going 8-12 from the field and 6-8 from three-point land
• Young, once again, nearly had a double-double in the loss with 15 points and eight rebounds
• Madonna hit 14 of 19 attempts from the free throw line for 73.7%

UP NEXT

The Crusaders will be at home again on Saturday, November 20 with a 3:00 p.m. tip against Lourdes University (Ohio) in the ACCU Arena. 

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