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For the sixth straight time Lourdes earned a victory over Aquinas by five points or less, defeating the Saints 68-65 on Wednesday night at Tam-o-Shanter.
 
The series which has consisted of so many close games could not have been much closer on this night.  Both teams made 19 fields goals.  Aquinas outrebounded Lourdes by just one, 34-33, and the Gray Wolves committed eight turnovers while the Saints had just 10 for the game.  In the end Lourdes rallied from a second half deficit to defeat the Saints for the Gray Wolves third straight victory and seventh in their last eight games.
 
"Aquinas is a heck of a team so this is a good win for us," head coach Andre Smith said afterwards.  "There were a lot of fouls which took away from the flow of the game but we did a good job of making our free throws.  We played strong for the most part."
 
Aaron Ashley (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights H.S.) came off of the bench to lead Lourdes with 19 points while Zach Steinmetz (Toledo, Ohio/Saint John's H.S.) tallied his sixth double-double of the year with 14 points and 11 rebounds.  E.J. Blackwell (Rochester, Pa./Rochester H.S.) also scored 14 points for Lourdes, making 7-of-9 free throws.
 
A three-pointer followed by a conventional three-point play on back-to-back possessions for Ashley in the first half put the Gray Wolves on top 19-10 at the 8:15 mark.  Lourdes maintained its lead the rest of the half, taking a 23-17 lead into the locker room after holding Aquinas to just 16% (4-of-25) shooting from the floor over the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Saints cut into the lead and eventually took the lead 35-32 with an 8-0 run early in the second half.  Aquinas would maintain the lead over the next five minutes until back-to-back jumpers by Steinmetz put Lourdes back in front 43-42 with 9:30 remaining. 
 
The Saints retook the lead before a three-pointer from Steinmetz at the 7:33 mark and a jumper by Ashley two minutes later put Lourdes on top for good. 
 
"Zach's jumpers and three-pointer were a big turning point for us because then we got a stop defensively," Smith said.  "Zach sees so many double and triple teams though we need production from others as well though.  Aaron and E.J. did that for us tonight."
 
Ashley hit a triple with 2:55 to play to increase the lead to 61-56 and Lourdes would maintain a three-to-six point advantage the rest of the way.  The Gray Wolves went 7-for-8 from the line in the final minute to secure the victory.
 
Anthony Williams led Aquinas (6-6, 3-2 WHAC) with 17 points while Jake Bullock added 11 points off of the bench.  Bryan Mitzner also tallied double figures for the Saints, finishing the night with 10 points.
 
Lourdes (7-2, 4-1) will take to the road on Saturday, traveling to Fort Wayne, Ind. to battle Indiana Tech.  Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. at the Schaefer Center Gymnasium.