ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Crusaders secured their fourth straight conference win as they beat the Concordia University Ann Arbor Cardinals on the road. Despite finding themselves down early, the Crusaders came together in the second half to comeback and defeat the Cardinals 72-66 in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference matchup.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Crusaders and Cardinals went shot-for-shot coming out of the gate. Every time someone scored it seemed like the other team would immediately match it. No team was able to muster a lead greater than two points until the 8:52 minute mark in the first half, when CUAA would go up 20-17 with a free throw. Madonna hung tough, not allowing the Cardinals to extend the lead any further. A few tough layups by Matthew MacLellan in the paint helped to keep it close in the final minutes of the first half. Just as the buzzer began ticking down, the Cardinals went up by seven, the largest lead in the game thus far. However, two quick buckets; one from Mark Mettie and the other from Deric Murray, cut the Cardinal lead down to four. The Crusaders entered halftime down 35-31.

Madonna came out of the half on a mission. As soon as they stepped back on the court, everyone in the arena knew that this was going to be a different team than what they saw in the first half. Brendan Young came out shooting, and scored the first points of the half to cut the Crusaders' deficit to two. In the next minute, he would score four more points to push the Crusaders ahead by two. The Crusaders would not give up the lead for the rest of the game. They outplayed the Cardinals physically and mentally in the second half with an incredibly disciplined performance. The Crusaders gave up only four fouls in contrast to the Cardinals' ten. Any hope that the Cardinals had for a comeback in the final minutes was shut down by Blake Banks, who would record six points and one block in the final three minutes of the game to finish them off. The final score: 72-66 Madonna.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
 

• Mettie led the Crusaders in scoring with 12 points and added two blocks and six boards to his career total.
• Banks' 11 points and one block helped the Crusaders seal the victory.
• Henry Speight continued his hot streak with another 10 point game this season.
• Young continued to dominate on defense with nine rebounds and one block, in addition to eight points on offense.

UP NEXT

The Crusaders will return home on Saturday, December 9th at 7:30 pm to take on the Lourdes University Gray Wolves at ACCU Arena.

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