Lourdes saw Indiana-Northwest erase a 10-point lead midway through the second half, but the Gray Wolves survived the RedHawks rally to score a 62-59 victory at the Savanah Center in Gary, Ind. to move back to the .500 mark on the season.
 
"This was a hard fought game for us," head coach Andre Smith said afterwards.  "We played hard enough to get a good road win.  We need to take this momentum into the break and carry it into league play in the new year."
 
The Gray Wolves led 53-43 with 10 minutes to play before Indiana-Northwest went on a 13-1 run over six minutes to take a two-point advantage with just over four minutes remaining.  Zach Steinmetz (Toledo, Ohio/Saint John's H.S.) drained a triple to put Lourdes back in front, a lead the Gray Wolves would not relinquish the rest of the way.
 
Another basket by Steinmetz and a three from E.J. Blackwell (Rochester, Pa./Rochester H.S.) pushed the lead to five with under a minute to play.  Indiana-Northwest cut its deficit to three and got the ball back in the final seconds, but a potential triple to tie missed the mark.
 
Lourdes took a 38-30 lead into intermission following a first half that saw nine ties and seven lead changes.  The RedHawks never led by more than two points the entire stanza though.
 
Steinmetz led Lourdes with 22 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds while Blackwell added 15 points and seven boards.  Anthony Swanigan (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike H.S.) and Julian Johnson (Columbus, Ohio/Horizon H.S.) each tallied 11 points for the Gray Wolves.  Johnson also handed out seven assists.
 
The Gray Wolves overcame 17 turnovers and 37.3% shooting from the floor to earn the win.  Lourdes tallied 14 offensive rebounds which led to 19 points which helped contribute to the win.
 
Brandon Grubl led Indiana-Northwest (4-10) with 18 points while Cody Artuso added 11 points for the RedHawks.
 
Lourdes (7-7) will close out the calendar year with a New Year's Eve exhibition game at NCAA Division I foe Central Michigan.  Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. at McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant, Mich.