For just the third time in 23 meetings, Lourdes managed a victory over Cornerstone on Saturday afternoon, soundly defeating the Golden Eagles 77-62 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"We did a great job defensively," head coach Dennis Hopson said afterwards.  "We shut (Christian) Rodriguez down and kept him uncomfortable all night.  He is one guy that if he goes, they go."
 
Both teams started slowly offensively, as the game was tied at eight nearly eight minutes into the contest.  An 8-0 run by the Gray Wolves allowed Lourdes to build an 18-13 advantage, only to see the Golden Eagles knot the game at 20 with under five minutes to play before halftime.  A dunk by McRay White (Cleveland, Ohio/Garfield H.S.) gave the Gray Wolves a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way, and sparked a late 13-6 run, as Lourdes built a 33-26 advantage at the break.
 
Out of the locker room Lourdes opened up a 10-point lead, 40-30, as Charles Swain (Cincinnati, Ohio/North College Hill H.S.) drained a triple.  After leading by 11, Cornerstone responded with an 11-5 spurt to close within five, 55-50, midway through the stanza.
 
The Gray Wolf lead was still five, 62-57, with five minutes to play when Lourdes scored the next six points, beginning a 15-2 run over the next four minutes to put the game away.
 
Joey Holifield (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.) led the way with 17 points while White added 15 points and nine rebounds.  Jackie Harris (Toledo, Ohio/Saint Francis de Sales H.S.) and Little Anderson (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.) came off the bench to score 14 and 11 points respectively as the Lourdes reserves doubled up Cornerstone's bench, 25-12 for the game.
 
Nick Welch (Temperance, Mich./Saint Mary Catholic Central H.S.) grabbed 10 rebounds.
 
Lourdes shot 45.3% from the floor and committed just nine turnovers while making 13-of-15 (86.7%) from the free throw line.  The Golden Eagles were held to just 38.5% shooting from the field and were 8-fo-13 (61.5%) from the line.
 
Carter Nyp and Cory Ainsworth paced Cornerstone (10-5, 5-2 WHAC) with 15 points each.
 
Lourdes (8-3, 3-3) remains at home on Wednesday evening as the Gray Wolves host Adrian in non-conference action.  Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. inside the Ebeid Rec Center.