LIVONIA, Mich. - The Crusaders hosted the Blue Devils of Lawrence Tech University in their first basketball game of the new year. While the Blue Devils were dominant in the first half, the Crusaders were able to turn the tides in the second half, but ultimately fell short in overtime in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference showdown at ACCU Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Blue Devils came out with a great defensive effort to keep the Crusaders' dangerous offense at bay early in the first half. They were able to overtake the Crusaders early, jumping ahead by 10 points early in the first half, 14-4. After taking a quick timeout to regroup, Madonna finally got some points on the board and cut the Blue Devils' lead to five, now down 20-15. A series of Crusader free throws helped them to keep the game close as the half began winding down. With less than three minutes remaining in the half, an offensive surge from the Blue Devils saw them start to pull away once again, but two clutch free throws from Henry Speight cut their lead to single digits entering halftime. Blue Devils led 34-25.

Coming out of the break, the Blue Devils' chippy defense allowed the Crusaders to make up some ground from the free-throw line. A series of free throws by Speight and Mark Mettie, along with a three-point bucket from Ethan Emerzian allowed the Crusaders to shrink the Blue Devils' lead to three. The Crusaders were unable to keep the Blue Devil offense contained for long though, as they soon jumped back up by nine. When the Crusaders needed it most, Mettie stepped up with a steal and an explosive dunk to give the Crusaders the momentum back. Five quick points from Speight following this completely erased the Blue Devils' lead, tying the game 48-48 with six minutes remaining. The remaining minutes were an absolute dogfight as both teams gave everything they had to pull ahead as the clock ticked down. With just over a minute to play, the Crusaders seemed to finally have their first secure lead of the night, as two more free throws from Speight gave them a 57-52 lead. However, in the final seconds, a three-point play by the Blue Devils tied up the game at 59-59. Lawrence Tech would go on to win in overtime 73-67.


INSIDE THE NUMBERS
 

• Speight dropped a dominant double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
• Mettie also put up a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.
• Brendan Young helped to give the Crusaders some momentum with two blocks, two steals, eight rebounds, and eight points.

UP NEXT

The Crusaders will hit the road to take on another WHAC opponent in Aquinas College on Wednesday, January 11th at Sturrus Sport & Fitness Center in Grand Rapids, MI at 7:30 pm.

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