No. 11 Men’s Basketball sneaks out win at Madonna

Box Score

LIVONIA, Mich. – Winning on the road is not easy in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference and that was evident on Saturday but thanks to a strong second half rally, the No. 11 Golden Eagles picked up a 76-74 victory at Madonna. Cory Cox (SO/Flushing, Mich.) led the Golden Eagles in scoring for the second straight game as he matched Ben Lanning (JR/Grandville, Mich.)'s 17 points on the day. Cornerstone, now 4-1 overall, will come back to host Lourdes on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Mol Arena.

Game Flow
The opening half saw many spurts and it was one by the host Crusaders that got them within two at the break with CU leading 35-33. The two teams played almost identical in terms of stats in the opening 20 minutes as CU connected on two more field goals compared to MU hitting two more FT's for the 2-point difference.

Early in the second, Madonna recaptured the lead but after a layup and FT from Michael McLaughlin (SO/Grand Rapids, Mich.) with 10:34 to play to give the Golden Eagles a 55-54 lead, it looked as if the visitors would pull away. The lead slowly grew from that point until CU connected on their last FG with 4:31 to play leading by 10 on the layup from Justin Pepper (SR/Wayland, Mich.).

Madonna chipped away at the lead and had a chance at the end after a missed free-throw to win the game but the 3-point attempt was off the mark.

Say What?
"Madonna is a tough team to beat at home and today they came out and played hard. We did not play our best game as a team but we gutted out a win and now we need to go back to practice on Monday and get better." Junior Ben Lanning

By the Numbers
51.6% - Cornerstone struggled from the free-throw line making only 16-31

5 – Five different Golden Eagles reached double-figures led by Ben Lanning and Cory Cox with 17 each

50 – Madonna held a significant edge in the rebounding category as they won the battle of the board 50-32

18 – Cornerstone forced the host Crusaders into 18 turnovers

29-15 – CU held a large lead in points off the bench

Up Next
Cornerstone will host Lourdes University at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 19

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