LIVONIA, Mich. - The Madonna University men's basketball team suffered a 66-65 defeat to Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference foe Siena Heights University.from the Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena on Thursday evening. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Both teams started slow offensively, but it was the visiting Saints who opened up a 10-3 lead, however an alley-oop by Devin Dunn to Mark Mettie seemed to get the Crusaders offense rolling. Madonna cut the early deficit to 12-8, but Siena Heights responded by opening up an 18-10 lead with 9:20 left in the first half. The Crusaders got back to within three when Henry Speight converted on a layup to make it 18-15. However, that was the closest Madonna got in the opening 20 minutes, and Siena Heights took a 32-25 lead into the halftime break. Both teams struggled shooting in the first half, as each squad shot under 35 percent. 

A dunk in the opening minutes of the second half put the Saints up nine points. Siena Heights was able to maintain a lead of seven points early in the second, but Madonna didn't back down. Layups by Deric Murray and Brendan Young trimmed the lead to just four points with 14:39 to go. But the Saints responded once again by opening up their lead to seven points. The Crusaders continued to keep battling, and a Mettie layup with 7:55 remaining made the score 52-49. Later, it seemed Madonna grabbed the momentum when Blake Banks threw down a putback dunk with 4:49 left, but the Saints continued to respond each trip down the floor. With two minutes left, the Crusaders took a one-point lead thanks to a layup by Banks,  forcing a Siena Heights timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Devin Dunn was able to steal the ball and Mettie was able to convert on the layup in the paint to make it 65-62 with 1:15 left. The Saints came right back down the floor and got a bucket to cut the Crusader lead to just one. Siena Heights was then able to get a defensive stand with 24 seconds left and call timeout. After drawing up a play, Saints' guard Davin Walker hit a huge jump shot to give Siena Heights the 66-65 lead with nine seconds left. The Crusaders called timeout, and got a decent look by Blake Banks. It was no good however, and Siena Heights escaped with the one-point WHAC victory. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 

• Mettie scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. The senior also had five rebounds and two steals. 
• Blake Banks added a season-high of his own 15 points. 
• The Crusaders as a team shot 41.3 percent from the field and scored 46 points in the paint. 
• Davin Walker led the Saints with a game-high 28 points. Siena Heights had four starters in double figures scoring. 

UP NEXT:

Madonna travels to nearby Southfield to take on Lawrence Tech University at 3:00 PM Saturday from Don Ridler Fieldhouse.