It took a full 40 minutes, but the Lourdes men's basketball team grinded out a tough 65-62 victory over Carlow inside the Oakland Catholic High School Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
 
"First off, I want to credit Carlow and Coach Keefer for their effort today," said head coach Josh Gibson following the victory. "They executed their game plan and played with a lot of intensity, especially after playing a road game last night."
 
The host Celtics (1-3) jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead to begin the contest, but a three pointer from Deuce Martin (Lorain, Ohio/Clearview) sparked a 7-0 run by the Gray Wolves to put Lourdes ahead 7-4 just over four minutes into the contest.
 
From there, Lourdes held the lead until the 8:26 mark of the first half, when Rece Henneman sunk a pair of free throws to give the Celtics a 16-15 lead. The teams would exchange the lead six more times to end the first half as Carlow held a 25-24 edge at the intermission.
 
Lourdes came out firing in the second half, scoring nine of the first 12 points in the half to take a 33-28 lead with 14:54 left in the contest. Once again, the contest would prove to be a back-and-forth battle as each team surrendered multiple leads throughout the final stanza.
 
With 31 seconds remaining in the contest, Brett Lauf (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon) found teammate Tyler Kegley (Mount Gilead, Ohio/Northmor) for a crucial layup that gave Lourdes a two point advantage. Kadeim Jones (Dayton, Ohio/Marshall) would sink one of two free throws in the final seconds to seal the 65-62 victory.
 
"We struggled to find a rhythm on either end of the floor most of the day," Gibson continued. "Shots weren't really falling and we didn't do the best job of playing within our principles defensively. We did do a pretty good job of taking care of the ball and found a way to win."
 
The Celtics had a trio of players in doubles figures, led by Henneman's 17-point effort. Tony Acrie and Brenlee Reedy netted 16 and 14 points, respectively.
 
Clif Snow (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) led the Gray Wolf offense with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Jones added 13 points for Lourdes.
 
The Gray Wolves finished 26-of-66 (39.4%) from the field, while Carlow shot 35.9% from the field on 23-of-64 shooting from the field.
 
Lourdes (4-1) will return to action on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. as it hosts Indiana-South Bend at the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.