The Lourdes men's basketball team began Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon as it fell to Madonna 88-68 at the Activities Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
"We struggled to match the intensity of Madonna today for a full 40 minutes," said head Josh Gibson. "We had our moments where we showed that we could compete with them, but we needed to be more consistent to pull out a conference victory on the road."
 
After Lourdes took an early 4-2 lead, Madonna (5-2, 2-1 WHAC) took control of the contest in the first half and saw its lead grow to 32-21 with 6:55 remaining in the first half.
 
The Gray Wolves used a 7-0 run started by a pair of free throws from Clif Snow (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) and capped off by a Tyler Kegley (Mount Gilead, Ohio/Northmor) jumper to cut the lead to 32-28. From there, Lourdes cut into the Crusader lead and cut the gap to 40-34 heading into the intermission.
 
The two teams exchanged buckets to begin the second half but Madonna was able to take control. The Crusaders used late 9-0 run to grab a comfortable 74-51 lead.
 
Kadeim Jones (Dayton, Ohio/Marshall) led the offensive attack for Lourdes, netting 15 points, while Brett Lauf (Napoloen, Ohio/Napoleon) and Snow tallied 14 and 13 points, respectively.
 
Lourdes finished 26-of-59 (44.1%) from the field, while Madonna was 31-of-54 (57.4%) from the field. The Crusaders won the battle on the boards by a 41-19 margin.
 
"We have a quick turnaround before hosting Rochester on Tuesday," continued Gibson. "They are another veteran WHAC team who can really score the ball. We have to be prepared to defend our home court."
 
The Gray Wolves (5-2, 0-1) will return to action and continue WHAC play on Tuesday evening as they host Rochester (Mich.) at the Russell J. Ebeid Center with an 8 p.m. tipoff.