Box Score
Stingy defense and outstanding shooting proved to be a winning combination for Lourdes University on Wednesday evening as the Gray Wolves posted their fifth consecutive victory, downing the University of Northwestern Ohio 58-47 at Tam-o-Shanter.
 
Lourdes held the Racers to just 30% shooting from the field for the game, including a frigid 18.5% (5-of-27) in the opening half while torching the nets at a 73.3% clip in the opening stanza, missing just four field goal attempts.  For the game the Gray Wolves finished at 62.9% from the floor while making 12-of-13 (92.3%) free throws.
 
“Every win you can get in this league is great,” head coach Andre Smith said after the game.  “They are tough to get night in, night out.  We played great team defense tonight.  We also shot the ball extremely well.”
 
Lourdes jumped out to a quick 10-1 lead and held the Racers without a field goal for the first 5:46 of the contest.  UNOH scored the next five points of the game to pull within four, 10-6, but that would be as close as the visitors would get the rest of the contest. 
 
A 17-5 run by the Gray Wolves capped with a Ron Dukes (Saint Louis, Mo./North County Christian H.S.) three-pointer gave Lourdes a 30-13 advantage with 1:42 to play before intermission and the hosts would take a 32-17 lead into the break.
 
“We had a great first half defensively,” Smith added.  “They killed us with 10 offensive boards but we did a much better job keeping them off of the glass in the second half.”
 
The Gray Wolves slowly extended the lead during the first 10 minutes of the second half, pushing the edge to 22, 51-29 at the 9:55 mark after a lay-in by Remy Fleurima (North Lauderdale, Fla./Coconut Creek H.S.).  Lourdes would maintain the lead until the final 1:36 when Northwestern Ohio scored the game's final eight points to close to with 11 for the final margin.
 
Elvin Butler (Akron, Ohio/East H.S.) led Lourdes with 13 points and seven rebounds while Dukes was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor while scoring 11 points, a season high.  Alex Davis (Cleveland, Ohio/Nordonia H.S.) and Fleurima each added nine points in the victory.  Jake DuPree (Toledo, Ohio/Whiteford H.S.) tallied five steals defensively.
 
Blake Bush led Northwestern Ohio (9-8, 5-5 WHAC) with 16 points and seven rebounds, making 8-of-10 at the charity stripe.
 
“While our defensive effort was good tonight, we have to cut down on turnovers,” Smith concluded.  “The 20 we committed tonight hurt us.”
 
Lourdes outrebounded the Racers 26-24 in improving to 5-0 all-time against UNOH.  The Gray Wolves, the top defensive team in NAIA Division II dropped its points against average to just 51.0 on the season.  Lourdes has also outrebounded all but two teams this season.
 
Lourdes (12-5, 7-3) has moved into a tie for second place in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference and will wrap up the first half of conference play on Saturday, traveling to Grand Rapids, Mich.  The Gray Wolves will tip off at 3 p.m. against Cornerstone looking to tie the school record with six consecutive victories.