SYLVANIA, Ohio. – Lourdes men's basketball (17-4) (11-4 in WHAC) escaped with a close 75 to 74 win against Defiance (10-10) (5-10 in WHAC) on Wednesday evening.

With Indiana Tech losing to Lawrence Tech, the Gray Wolves move just one game back from first place in the WHAC and now have the best overall record in the conference.

1st Half:
Sophomore guard Derek Fairley had the Gray Wolves off to a hot start with 12 of the first 14 points of the night. Fairley would finish the game with an impressive 34 Points in an intense game.

Freshman guard/forward Jayden Jones stepped up for the Gray Wolves' undersized match up and led the team with eight rebounds in the first half. Jones had 13 rebounds total in the game during his double-double night.

Senior guard/forward Stephen Coleman Jr. also had a good first half, making the building explode early with an alley-oop from Derek Fairley.

On the Defiance side, they had a slow start to the half but ended up getting into a rhythm and put the game within 6 points at the half.

Lourdes out rebounded Defiance 21-18 in the first half without starting center Charlie Wood. Evan Angstmann, Carter Sudhoff and Donovan Stone led Defiance with a combined 17 of their 32 first half points.

2nd Half:
The second half was a battle all the way till the buzzer went off with a combined eight lead changes. Defiance ended up making some clutch free throws to take the lead over Lourdes, 74-72, as Lourdes trailed by two with 20 seconds left on the clock.

With the ball in Derek Fairley's hand on the inbound; he took it down the court with one thing on his mind: ending the game. Derek crossed over a Yellow Jacket defender before chucking up a deep three. The ball hit the rim, bounced high off the backboard glass, rolled around the rim and fell in to put Lourdes up one with nine seconds left.

The Yellow Jackets charged down the court when Stephen Coleman Jr. stepped up for a game sealing steal as the buzzer expired.

Stats:
Lourdes outshot Defiance by 6% from the field and 9% from the three-point arc in the game. Both teams shot below 70% from the free throw line. Despite their free throw struggle and multiple starting players injured, Lourdes was able to fight through the adversity and improve their home record to an undefeated 11-0.

Coach DuPree's Postgame Comments
"We're definitely shorthanded, but injuries are a part of the game," coach DuPree said. "We got to make an adjustment and have other guys stepped up, and that's what happened today. Blake played a lot more minutes than normal and Jayden Jones had a double-double and played a lot of minutes. That's what has to happen when you're down a couple guys, guys just have to step up. Hats off to Defiance, they're a very well coached team. We didn't play our best but we played good enough to win by one, and that's all you got to do is win by one."

Next game:
Lourdes will rematch Cleary this Saturday at home at 3:00 p.m for Court vs. Cancer Night.