Lourdes tied the school record with its 22^nd victory of the season on Wednesday evening as the Gray Wolves defeated Rochester (Mich.) 79-59 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center in the quarterfinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament.
 
The Gray Wolves have matched the win total of the 2012-2013 squad that finished the season 22-10 and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament.
 
"Tonight, we played one of our most compete games of the year both offensively and defensively," head coach Dennis Hopson said afterwards.  "We were dialed in and understood what needed to happen."
 
The fourth-seeded Gray Wolves started fast, as three-pointers by Nick Welch (Temperance, Mich./Saint Mary Catholic Central H.S.) and Little Anderson (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.) on the first two possessions of the game jump-started the offense.
 
Both teams then went cold, as fifth-seeded Rochester scored just two points in the opening six minutes.  A 7-0 run by the Gray Wolves in just over two-and-a-half minutes pushed the lead to double figures, 15-4, at the 11:33 mark.  The Warriors were within eight, 21-13, with just over eight minutes to play before halftime, but that would be the last time the Lourdes lead was in single digits.  Leading 26-16, the Gray Wolves closed the first half on a 17-4 run over the final 6:18 to take a 43-20 advantage into the locker room.
 
Lourdes shot 53.3% from the floor, including 50% (6-of-12) from three-point range, in the opening 20 minutes while limiting the Warriors to just 33.3% from the field and 2-of-12 (16.7%) from beyond the arc.  The Gray Wolves also forced 14 Rochester turnovers which they converted into 18 points.
 
The Gray Wolves extended the lead to 25, its largest of the day, less than a minute into the second half before Rochester attempted to battle back.  A 10-2 spurt pulled the visitors to within 17 at the 17-minute mark.  The Warriors kept chipping away, pulling to within 13, 62-49, midway through the second half before Brett Lauf (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) drained a 25-foot triple to stop the run.  That ignited an 11-1 run over the next four minutes as Lourdes regained a 23-point advantage on the way to securing the win.
 
Welch and Joey Holifield (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.) led Lourdes with 16 points each, combining to go 17-for-17 from the free throw line.  As a team, Lourdes shot 90.9% (20-of-22) from the charity stripe on the evening, including 15-of-16 (93.8%) in the second half.
 
"We did a great job of getting to the free throw line tonight," Hopson added.  "However, I'm not happy with the 17 turnovers."
 
Lauf added 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including three triples, while Anderson finished with 12 points.
 
Lourdes outrebounded Rochester 36-33, with McRay White (Cleveland, Ohio/Garfield Heights H.S.) leading the way with seven boards.
 
Andrew Kline led all scorers with 21 points for Rochester (19-12) while Diego Robinson registered a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Lourdes (22-7) advances to Saturday's semifinal against top-seeded, and regular season champion Indiana Tech.  Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. inside the Schaefer Center.