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Lourdes cut a 17-point halftime deficit to three with eight minutes to play on Wednesday evening, but Madonna responded with a 15-0 run on the way to defeating the Gray Wolves 75-64 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
The Gray Wolves fell behind early, as Madonna went on an 18-3 run over eight minutes to build a 31-12 lead with 3:20 remaining in the first half.  The Crusaders forced 15 Gray Wolf turnovers in the opening stanza and limited Lourdes to just 25% (6-of-24) shooting from the floor while building a 34-17 halftime advantage.
 
The Madonna lead was 15, 44-29, with just under 15 minutes to play when the Gray Wolves began to battle back.  A 17-7 run over the next five minutes pulled Lourdes to within five, 51-46, following a three-pointer by Clif Snow (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown H.S.).
 
Two minutes later, a Snow layup made it a 55-52 contest with eight minutes to play, before the Gray Wolves would go five minutes without a basket.  Madonna scored the next 15 points to push the lead back to 18, and the Gray Wolves were unable to cut their deficit to single digits the rest of the way.
 
"I was proud of our effort and the great fight our guys had," head coach Josh Gibson said afterwards.  "We need to put 40 minutes together."
 
Snow led Lourdes with 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists while Malik Thurman (Dayton, Ohio/Stebbins H.S.) added 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor.
 
Lourdes shot 63% from the field in the second half in the attempted comeback, finishing the night 45.1% from the floor.
 
Chris Dierker led Madonna (16-10, 10-7 WHAC) with 17 points and 13 rebounds, as the Crusaders finished the night with a 38-26 rebounding advantage, including 16-8 on the offensive glass.  Joshua Reynolds added 16 points for the Crusaders.
 
Lourdes (10-16, 3-14) begins its final road trip of the season on Saturday afternoon, as the Gray Wolves travel to Southfield, Mich. to battle Lawrence Tech.  Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. inside of Ridler Fieldhouse.