SYLVANIA, Ohio – Lourdes men's basketball (11-2) (5-2 in WHAC) defeated Indiana University of Columbus (IU Columbus) (2-11) (0-1 in RSC) in a 101-81 blowout victory on Tuesday night at the Ebeid Rec Center.

All 12 Gray Wolves players who competed in the game scored, giving Lourdes a whopping 32 bench points and a wire-to-wire lead in the game.

The turning point in the game was when Lourdes had a slim 40-34 lead with three minutes to go in the first half. IU Columbus was beginning to gain some momentum heading into halftime and the game was shaping up to be a close one. However, Lourdes rattled off a massive 32-12 run over the next nine minutes, giving the Gray Wolves a 26-point lead with 14 minutes left in the second half and putting the Crimson Pride's hope to rest.

Despite the massive win, the Crimson Pride actually outshot the Gray Wolves from the field and from the three-point line. IU Columbus also won the rebound battle 33-32 over Lourdes.

The big statistical catalyst for Lourdes was their 16-5 advantage in steals, which caused a game-changing 7-24 advantage in turnovers. The 16 steals and only seven turnovers were both season-bests for the Gray Wolves.

The 101 points scored is the second highest for Lourdes in a game this season and the second time they've reached the century mark. Once again leading the way was sophomore guard Derek Fairley who led all scorers with 23 points, giving him his fourth consecutive 20-point game and 10^th overall 20-point game on the season.

Sophomore guard Adonus Abrams had a career night for the Gray Wolves, dropping 21 points on 81.8% shooting, dishing out eight assists, and swiping four steals, all of which are career-bests.

Freshman trio Karter Koester, J'Siah Jefferson and Jayden Jones also all played well for Lourdes' young underclassmen core. Koester earned his first career start after dropping 18 points last night against Windsor. Jefferson earned his second consecutive start and dropped 10 points. Jones scored 10 points in 18 minutes to lead all bench scorers in the game.

On the other side, by far leading the game for the Crimson Pride was graduate student forward Trevin Lieck who dropped 23 points on 71.4% shooting from the field.

Coach DuPree's Postgame Comments
"Everybody that got in contributed offensively," Coach DuPree said. "I thought we did a great job of sharing the basketball and finding the open guy. I was really pleased with how well we shared the ball today and the guys that came off the bench did what they needed to do. We're a very young team; we started three freshmen and two sophomores today. We might even be one of the youngest teams in the country, so effort is something that we continue to preach. The effort was there but it was just a little inconsistent, it needs to be there for a full 40 minutes. The effort is something we can continue to work on, but it was there in spurts, and I'm pleased we came out with another win."

Next Game
Lourdes will take on Lawrence Tech Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. at home in the Ebeid Rec Center as part of a men's and women's double header.