Lourdes saw a 19-point lead cut to two late in Saturday's game against Siena Heights, but the Gray Wolves never trailed in the contest and held on to defeat the Saints 72-66 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center to remain atop the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference standings.
 
The 14^th-ranked Gray Wolves started fast, scoring the game's first 10 points and had built a 25-6 lead just nine minutes into the contest.  The Saints slowly began to respond over the final 11 minutes of the stanza, and closed to within 13, 37-24, by halftime.
 
"I thought we did a nice job in the first half early in getting what we wanted," head coach Dennis Hopson said following the game.  "Their toughness made us work harder for the last 30 minutes though."
 
Lourdes maintained its double figure lead early in the second half, and had a 14-point advantage, 47-33, with 15:30 to play following a Nick Welch (Temperance, Mich./Saint Mary Catholic Central H.S.) basketball.  That would be the last field goal for the Gray Wolves for more than 12 minutes.
 
The Gray Wolves next 18 points came via the free throw line, where Clif Snow (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown H.S.) went 16-for-18 himself on the game.
 
Siena Heights (5-8, 3-4 WHAC) still trailed by 13 with nine minutes to play when the Saints went on a 10-0 run to close to within three with 6:36 remaining.  The visitors would get as close as two, 61-59, at the 4:27 mark, but a pair of free throws by Snow followed by a field goal that broke the drought pushed the lead back to six and the Gray Wolves held on for the victory.
 
Snow led all scorers with 25 points while Kenny Coleman (Toledo, Ohio/Saint Francis de Sales H.S.) added 19 more.  Coleman also went 8-for-8 from the free throw line where the Gray Wolves were 27-of-32 (84.4%) as a team.  Welch also tallied double figures with 13 points.
 
"We did not shoot the ball well but free throws won us the game," Hopson added.
 
DeMarco Dickerson and Keith Jordon Jr. both led Siena Heights with 24 points with Dickerson also pulling down 11 rebounds for a double-double.
 
Lourdes (10-3, 6-1) will take to the road on Wednesday evening, as the Gray Wolves travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to battle Concordia (Mich.).  Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside of Cardinal Fieldhouse.