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Lourdes rallied from a 17-point deficit to pull within two on Wednesday evening, but ninth-ranked Madonna held on for a 72-68 victory inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"We are exhausting too much energy in the second half after we get down," head coach Dennis Hopson said after the game.  "We need to play that way in the first half, but all in all it was a good effort.  We need to keep our emotions in check at times though."
 
The Gray Wolves started quickly, scoring the game's first seven points while keeping the Crusaders off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes.  Madonna responded with a 13-2 run, all by Henry Speight, taking the lead for good.
 
The Crusaders' advantage grew to 17, 35-18, with just over five minutes to play until halftime, and Madonna took a 40-24 lead into the locker room.
 
Seven straight points early in the second half pulled the Gray Wolves to within nine, 45-36, before Madonna extended the lead back to 16 with 14 minutes to play.  Three three-pointers by Deuce Martin (Lorain, Ohio/Clearview H.S.) spearheaded a 16-3 run, which capped by a layup from Kenny Coleman (Toledo, Ohio/Saint Francis de Sales H.S.) and pulled Lourdes to within 56-53 with under 10 minutes remaining.
 
"I was excited about what I saw from Deuce tonight," Hopson added.
 
The game remained tight down the stretch, with Clif Snow (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown H.S.) connecting on a triple with 1:38 to play, making it a 70-68 contest.  Lourdes forced a turnover and had a pair of shots to tie, but came up empty and the Crusaders connected on a pair of free throws with 19 seconds to play to close out the scoring.
 
Snow led Lourdes with 14 points while Nick Welch (Temperance, Mich./Saint Mary Catholic Central H.S.) added 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds.  Martin finished with 11 points off the bench in 14 minutes of action.
 
The Gray Wolves shot 58.6% from the floor in the second half to finish the game at 49.1% from the field and outrebounded the Crusaders 34-27.
 
Speight paced all scorers with 26 points for Madonna (6-2, 2-0 WHAC) while Dwight Burton added 17 more.  Madonna shot 50% (11-of-22) from three-point range and was a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line.
 
Lourdes (3-3, 1-1) will return to the road on Saturday afternoon as the Gray Wolves battle Aquinas.  Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. inside the Sturrus Sports & Fitness Center in Grand Rapids, Mich.