Lourdes senior class accounted for 60 of the Gray Wolves' 65 points on Saturday evening at Owens Community College, but they needed three more points as Siena Heights escaped with a 68-65 in the season finale.
 
E.J. Blackwell (Rochester, Pa./Rochester H.S.) scored 20 of his game-high 26 points after halftime while Zach Steinmetz (Toledo, Ohio/Saint John's H.S.) added 23 points and a game-high eight rebounds.  Julian Johnson (Columbus, Ohio/Horizon H.S.) added 11 points, four rebounds, and four assists.
 
"These were a great group of guys," head coach Andre Smith said after the game.  "They were great senior leaders and all showed great qualities in them.  You hate to have the seniors leave like this, but it was a tough season for us."
 
Siena Heights (11-19, 7-15 WHAC) scored the game's first eight points and the Saints eventually built an 11-point lead, 30-17, at the 4:53 mark of the opening half.  Lourdes was able to close to within seven before halftime, and went into the break trailing 37-30.
 
 "We have played in spurts all season and tonight was no different," Smith added.  "We've constantly fallen behind early and had to battle back.  We did that again tonight, but it wasn't quite enough."
 
The Saints pushed the lead back to 11, 45-34, with 16 minutes to play before the Gray Wolves went on their run.  A 12-2 run, capped with two Blackwell free throws, pulled Lourdes to within one with 12:08 remaining.  Siena Heights again pushed the lead back to eight with under five minutes to play before Lourdes made one last spurt.
 
A Blackwell layup with 1:30 to play pulled Lourdes within one, 54-53, and after a Saints miss, Blackwell made two free throws with 31.3 seconds remaining on the clock to give the Gray Wolves their first lead of the night, capping a 12-3 outburst.  Lourdes forced a Saints miss, but Christopher Pearl collected the rebound and scored on the putback with 12.3 remaining.
 
The Gray Wolves had a chance to retake the lead, but a turnover with 4.3 seconds left led to a pair of Siena Heights free throws at the 3.2 second mark.  Johnson's attempt to tie from midcourt as the horn sounded rattled around, but would not fall.
 
Lourdes (10-19, 5-17) shot 49% for the game, but committed 12 turnovers which led to 17 Saints points.  Siena Heights shot just 40.9% from the floor, but outrebounded the Gray Wolves 32-26, including 12 offensive boards that led to 15 second chance points.
 
"Second shots killed us tonight," Smith concluded.  "It was an offensive rebound that led to the game-winning basket."
 
Pearl led Siena Heights with 20 points while Jerrell Martin added 19 points, going 8-for-8 from the free throw line.  Myles Copland added 17 points for the Saints.