LIVONIA, Mich.-- The 2021 Bernie Holowicki Classic Presented by Success Group Mortgage came to a close Saturday evening for Madonna University Men's Basketball as it suffered a 84-67 setback against Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio), it's first of the young season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Madonna started off the game in a deep hole. The Crusaders looked up at the Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena LED Scoreboard and saw a 20-0 lead in favor of the Cougars early on. It wasn't until a Brendan Young basket in the paint that finally broke the scoring drought with 13:14 in the half.

Jordan Graham and two free throws by Devin Dunn fueled a quiet comeback but MVNU's lights-out shooting wouldn't go away. At the end of the half, Madonna was seeing a 25.8% field goal percentage, a 15.4% three-throw shooting percentage, and was 66.6% from the charity stripe as the teams went into the locker room with the score 40-22. 

Both teams then started exchanging body blows to start the second half as the Crusaders' shooting improved. Two free throws by Mark Mettie helped Madonna bring the deficit down to as low as 13 but four Cougars were in double-digits in scoring to hand Madonna's first loss of the season 84-67. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Mettie finished his 38 minutes of play with nine rebounds and 24 points to lead all scorers
• Eian Barker and Noah Campbell sat just behind in the scoring column with 14 and 11, respectively
• Madonna improved from the first half in the next 20 minutes with 45.5% from FG, 50% from three-point range, and 81.82% from the free throw line
• This is the first loss for Madonna ever in the Bernie Holowicki Classic

UP NEXT

Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) play opens for Madonna at home on Wednesday, November 10 at 8:00 p.m. as it hosts Siena Heights University (Mich.) at the ACCU Arena. 

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