FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Lourdes men's basketball (12-3) (6-3 in WHAC) lost to No. 9 Indiana Tech (12-2) (8-1 in WHAC) 68 to 71 on Wednesday evening in a hard-fought battle till the very end of the game.

The Warriors have kept their sole possession of first place in the WHAC as the Gray Wolves drop slightly to third place, two games back of Indiana Tech and one game back of Madonna.

The first half of the game was all Indiana Tech. The Warriors led by 13 at the half, beating the Gray Wolves 33 to 20. The Indiana Tech defense had seven steals, forcing 10 Lourdes turnovers and holding Lourdes to under 30% shooting from the field and just 3-for-16 from beyond the arc.

What helped Lourdes stay alive in the game in the first half was their own defense. The Gray Wolves' defense held Indiana Tech to 35.1% shooting and forced seven turnovers on six steals of their own.

The game started to get closer when freshman guard/forward Karter Koester came out on fire in the beginning of the second half, hitting two threes and two layups within the first six minutes of the half to cut the lead to single digits. Koester ended the game with 13 points, Lourdes' second-highest scorer. The Indiana Tech lead was mostly between six and ten points for the majority of the second half until the final minute of the game.

Down 67-61 with a minute left, senior guard/forward Stephen Coleman Jr. dished out an amazing backdoor pass to freshman guard J'Siah Jefferson for a baseline layup to cut the Indiana Tech lead to four. After trading a Lourdes layup for a few Indiana Tech free throws, sophomore guard Derek Fairley hit a corner three-pointer with 5.5 seconds left to cut the deficit to just two. 

Indiana Tech's redshirt senior guard Blake Davison missed one of two free throws after immediately getting fouled by Lourdes, creating just a one possession 71-68 Indiana Tech lead with 4.3 seconds remaining.

Derek Fairley then dribbled the ball up past half court before heaving a last-second three-point attempt at the buzzer, missing it wide left of the backboard to seal a wildly hard-fought loss for the Gray Wolves.

Fairley led all scorers once again with 27 points and has now increased his 20-point scoring streak to six games. He leads the WHAC in points per game with 24.6. Meanwhile, J'Siah Jefferson continued his impressive stretch of games since being inserted in the starting lineup over the holiday break, leading all players with 11 rebounds. The game was his second double digit rebound performance as the point guard of the Gray Wolves. 

Coach DuPree's Postgame Comments
"We can't have the first half we did against a team like that," Coach DuPree said. "I'm very proud of how our guys fought to get back in the game in the second half. If we play like that for the whole 40 minutes the outcome is different for us. We will learn from this and continue to grow."

Next Game
Lourdes will take on last-place Siena Heights on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. on the road as part of another conference men's and women's double header.