Madonna scored the game's first eight points and never trailed on Saturday afternoon, on the way to an 86-78 victory over Lourdes as the Gray Wolves concluded their four-game road trip inside Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena in Livonia, Mich.
 
"Their guard play and our lack of defending the ball really hurt us," head coach Dennis Hopson said afterwards.  We have to make more of a committed effort for the full 40 minutes."
 
The Crusaders built a 25-11 lead midway through the opening half before Lourdes began to battle back.  Ten straight points over the next three minutes pulled the Gray Wolves to within four.  Madonna pushed its lead back to nine, 37-28, with three minutes remaining before halftime but Lourdes crawled to within two, 43-41, heading into the break.
 
An early 9-0 run by Madonna pushed the lead back to 11 less than four minutes out of the locker room.  The Gray Wolves pulled back within two, 60-58, at the 12:41 mark, only to see the Crusaders push the advantage back to nine and the hosts would hold on for the win.
 
Joey Holifield (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.) led Lourdes with 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting while Nick Welch (Temperance, Mich./Saint Mary Catholic Central tallied a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Jackie Harris (Toledo, Ohio/Saint Francis de Sales H.S.) came off the bench to score 12 points while Brett Lauf (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) chipped in 11 more.
 
The Gray Wolves shot 41.5% from the floor but made just 28.2% (11-of-39) shots from three-point range.  Lourdes also committed 18 turnovers which led to 29 Crusader points.
 
Madonna (5-2, 2-1 WHAC) was led by Ethan Emerzian who scored 27 points, making 6-of-8 from long range, off the bench.  The Crusaders committed just nine miscues on the day.
 
Lourdes (4-2, 1-2) returns home to the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center on Tuesday evening as the Gray Wolves host Northwestern Ohio.  Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.